School Lunch - For Free?

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Those who think that hot school lunches are of modern origin with Uncle Sam providing his share of the cost never attended a certain country school in charge of a young woman teacher who was ahead of her time. I remember my Dad telling the following story:

Back in the "good old days" nearly every kid took their lunch to school. It was packed by their mothers in a syrup tin which had been washed out. It had a good handle and held just enough for small stomachs and usually consisted of whatever the evening meal had been the day before. With water from the school well, the kids were satisfied.

Technically speaking, what she the teacher initiated wasn't a hot lunch, even though it was served at noon. Folks up and down the road for miles around revolved their days around breakfast, dinner and supper, in that order, beginning at daylight or before.

So what the teacher prepared in the middle of the day was really hot dinner. The dinner was a one-shot deal and maybe the menu didn't measure up to all the nutritional standards wished upon us today, but it adequately filled that empty space below a kid's ribcage.

It was the teacher's idea that on a given day her kids could forget their dinner buckets and eat bean soup prepared on location, which meant the school's pot bellied heater would be turned into a cook stove for the day.

Kids were asked to bring their own bowls, a handful of dried beans and a hunk of cornbread if that was what they liked with bean soup. Of course, well water was still the drink of choice.

Cost to the township was practically nothing since the teacher brought her cooking pot and there was plenty of water at the pump. Since the fire had to be kept going at full blast, however, perhaps taxpayers were out an extra bucket of coal.

Bottom Line? School lunches were possible even before Uncle Sam started the school lunch program. I'm sure you or someone in your family can relate to stories like this one.. If you enjoyed this article, I'm sure you would enjoy my Free Newsletter. In it you will find many interesting tips, articles and "olde timey" stories, you can sign up at: http://www.seniorhwy.com/newsletter.htm

From Toni Shrader, a Baby Boomer and Senior Highway

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