Dinner at Noon. 



THERE is a great deal in the way we divide 

 our day, and, absurd as such a thing may 

 seem at first thought, there is something to be 

 said in defence of dinner at noon. Of course 

 everything depends upon what portion of each 

 twenty-four hours is set aside for sleep ; but it 

 can scarcely be called irrational to select the 

 half-dozen least suggestive hours, and these are 

 the year round from 10 P.M. to 4 A.M. Not 

 that we miss nothing by being then asleep, for 

 every hour has its own wonderful history, but, 

 the year through, we lose least by turning our 

 backs upon the world at such a time. 



Dinner at noon means an early breakfast, 

 preposterously early to many people ; but why 

 not follow Nature a little more closely than we 

 do and get our share of the fruits of the morn- 

 ing? A strawberry, while yet the dew is upon 

 it, is one of the marvels of Nature's handiwork, 



95 



