In preparing the tray of food, let everything be as dainty as possible.  Use for this purpose your choicest china and whitest linen.  One important rule with regard to food is, Give a very little at a time, and avoid vulgar abundance.  The sight of the loaded plate will discourage a weak appetite, and the delicate stomach will revolt at the suggestion of accepting such a mass.  A small bird, a neatly trimmed French chop, a bit of tenderloin steak, or tender broiled chicken, will be eaten, when, if two chops or half a steak were offered, not a mouthful would be swallowed.  To the well and strong this may seem like folly, but let us, in our strength, pity and humor the weaknesses of those upon whom God has laid suffering.  It takes all the ingenuity and tact which love can muster to make a sick-room tolerable, and food anything but distasteful.

A poor consumptive girl had fancied that she could eat a few raw oysters, and the physician cheerfully prescribed them.  At his next visit he was met by the mother, who informed him with dismay that her daughter would not touch the delicacy—­“her stomach turned against it the instant the dish was brought in.”

“How many did you let her see?” he asked.

“Two dozen!”

“Which would have daunted a well man, madam!” said the wise man.  “Give her one at a time—­cold and crisp, upon your best china plate, and tell her that is all she can have for at least an hour.  Make her think that her appetite is under restraint.  This is in itself a stimulant.”

The hint is valuable.

In administering medicine, be careful to follow the physician’s directions as to quantity and time of taking.  Do not prepare the dose in the presence of the patient, as it may make him exceedingly nervous to watch the dropping or pouring of the drug; and after it has been swallowed, put bottle and spoon out of sight.

In too many families there exists sinful ignorance as to what should be done in case of illness before the doctor arrives.  If a child comes in from play, hoarse and feverish, with nausea and pain in the head, he is often allowed to sit or lie about the house until the disagreeable symptoms become so pronounced as to cause alarm, and the physician is summoned.  The sufferer should have his feet soaked in hot water, be put to bed, and some anti-febrine like aconite administered until a slight perspiration is induced.  Aconite is such deadly poison that the mother must be sure she knows just in what quantity to give it.  The dose for a child from three to six years of age is half a drop in a teaspoonful of water, every hour until the feverishness disappears.  Unless serious illness is beginning, the chances are that, under this treatment, the little one will be almost well by the next day.

Mothers would do well to make a study of children’s ailments and their proper treatment.  Above all, the matter of diet should be comprehended.  It is appalling to see the conglomeration of indigestible substances which a sick person is allowed to eat.  All children should be trained to take medicine, and to submit to any prescribed dietary without resistance.