8 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 310 



Reaction to the Lunch 



The reaction of the children to the evaporated milk was interesting and quite 

 reassuring to any who might hesitate to use this product thinking many children 

 would dislike and refuse it. During the first test the milk was flavored with spice, 

 but this was shown to be unnecessary, for the children in school D took the plain 

 unflavored product as readily as those in school C took the spiced milk. To be 

 sure, a few individuals in each group had difificulty in learning to like the evapora- 

 ted milk and took the lunch intermittently or only a part of a cup each day, but 

 the same was true when pasteurized milk was given. However, only two in each 

 school, about 1 per cent, refused the evaporated milk entirely because they 

 disliked the flavor. 



The way in which the children in all the schools responded to the lunch, whether 

 milk or tomato or a combination of the two, was most gratifying, and is an illus- 

 tration of the splendid cooperation which may be expected from children if it is 

 requested in such a way as to appeal to their sportsmanship. Much credit for 

 the success in this regard is due to the teachers, whose fine spirit instilled into the 

 children a willingness and a desire to play their part even when their first impulse 

 may have been to refuse and when it took real persistence to bring themselves 

 to like the lunch. Realizing that to many of the children the flavor of evaporated 

 milk would be a new one for which they would have to develop a liking, only 

 about 1/3 cup was given the first day and the amount increased each day until 

 by the end of the second week all were being served a full cup. As was to be 

 expected the greatest lack of cooperation was among the older children, not so 

 much because they really disliked either the milk or tomato as because of their 

 fee'ing that a mid-morning feeding was only for little children and therefore 

 beneath their dignity. This was particularly obvious in a number of the fifth- 

 grade bo3's in school D. 



The lunch was always given before the first recess in order that it might affect 

 the child's appetite for his next meal as little as possible. In most cases this w'as 

 at least two hours before the noon meal. The exact time of serving depended 

 on the community and the school program. In school A, for example, most 

 of the children came to school on busses from the surrounding country and were 

 ready for the feeding the first thing in the morning; while in schools C and D, 

 where the majority lived in the village, the lunch was more acceptable somewhat 

 later and was served either during or at the end of the first session. 



Throughout each experiment one of the observers (O. M. or M. V. C.) lived 

 in the community where the feeding was being given, to prepare and supervise the 

 lunch, to keep the records of each child's daily intake, and to collect whatever 

 data seemed desirable. In each school, space was provided for this observer to 

 work and for the preparation of the lunch. 



Length of Study 



With the exception of school B, the supplementary feedings were begun in 

 the last week of September or the first week of October and continued for approx- 

 imately 150 consecutive school days to the first week of June or for about 8^ 

 months This was exclusive of days in which the school was not in session 

 because of holidays, vacations, or epidemics. In Table 1 the length of the 

 experimental period, the number of children enrolled, and the nature of the mid- 

 morning lunch are given for each school for each year. 



