“Now let us notice the difference in the course of the child’s action when it is left free to make its own choice what to eat first. This freedom of the child will produce an entirely different course of eating. You will notice, in the first place, that under abundance and freedom the child will show no particular preference for any one kind of food; and, secondly, it will, like the inferior animals, invariably eat the most desirable food first. Your child, when free, would perhaps begin with pie, because pie with you, as a rule, is not as plentiful as potatoes and bread are. In this state of freedom it takes plenty of time for chewing and mixing the food with saliva, because it sees nothing before it which it likes better and which it wants to get after finishing the pie. Perhaps it plays half the time with its knife and fork, enjoying freedom and the pleasure of eating. After it has finished pie, etc., it begins at potatoes, etc. All this time it eats leisurely, instead of gluttonously, as before. In this natural order of selecting food we gain one other important--perhaps the most important--point, which is, that the child is always coming to something that it likes somewhat less well, which will cause it to stop eating just when it has enough. “There are quite a number of other practices and habits in the manner of eating and drinking here on earth which the Marsites would consider pernicious. “So many of you eat too fast. Your vicious system of business often allows you scarcely time to eat a meal decently. Instead of masticating the food long enough to moisten it thoroughly with saliva, which is absolutely essential to good digestion, it is often rinsed down with tea and coffee, which is not infrequently taken with every other mouthful of food. This frequent rinsing, or drinking when eating, is very injurious to good digestion. Drinks, such as tea and coffee, appear to me to have a tendency to originate and establish this habit of frequent drinking during the meal. Experience seems to prove that fresh water is the healthiest drink that can be taken, and very few of us use anything else for drinking. “Delightful feelings during meal times are conducive to good digestion. We, therefore, particularly cultivate delightful conversation during meal times, and make everything appear as happy and enticing as possible. A person is generally cranky when he is hungry and weary. Our tables are always tastily and abundantly laid. Clean linen, finished dishes, flavored food, exquisitely arranged table bouquets, easy chairs and clean, courteous waiters are found in our dining-rooms. We keep an abundance of food, which is prepared by expert cooks; but we do not believe, like you do, in wasting about as much, if not more, of good food than is eaten, which, I believe, is often the case in your ‘first-class hotels’ and in your ‘upper’ society.