Pack it level with clean sawdust or excelsior (the latter preferably), until just enough height is left to set in a covered granite pail, which is to be used for holding the food. Place the pail in the centre, so that its top edge is just about half an inch below the top of the box. Then pack in more excelsior very tightly around the pail, until level with it. This will shape the "nest" for the pail. [Illustration: A home-made fireless cooker] Make a thick cushion, or mat, of excelsior to fit in the space between the level of the excelsior and the inside of the cover. Cover the cushion with cheesecloth or denim to keep it intact. NOTE.--Only food cooked in a liquid can be prepared in a home-made cooker. CHAPTER VII FORM IV: JUNIOR GRADE (Continued) STUDY OF FOOD The pupils have been working with some of the well-known foods in all of their recipes and should have a fair knowledge of how to prepare them in simple ways for the table. It is now time for them to learn what these foods contain for the use of their bodies. Much of this part of the work can be taught in rooms without special equipment. An earnest teacher, with a few articles from home, can make the study interesting and valuable. A series of lessons will be necessary for this purpose. The amount of work to be taken at one time is suggested, but this should be judged by the teacher. As in other lessons on theory, the remaining time of the lesson period should be used in practical work. Suggestions for such practical work are given under the lesson on "The Kitchen Fire", page 92. Practice lessons, to give variety and sustain interest, should be interspersed between these lessons as desired. LESSON I USES OF FOOD The lesson may be introduced by asking the class to think in what way the body of a healthy baby, who is fed regularly, will have changed at the end of six months. It will be larger; it will have more flesh, more bone, more hair, etc. We want to get a name that will apply to any part of the body. No matter which part we examine through a microscope we find the same fine and beautiful texture, and to this we give a name similar to that given to fine, thin paper. We call it _tissue_--hair tissue, bone tissue, flesh tissue. What has food done to the baby's tissues? It has enlarged its tissues; the child has grown larger. To the enlargement, or growth, of the tissues, we may apply the term, _build_, suggested by the building of a house. Then what may we say food does for the tissues of the body? We may say that _food builds the tissues of the body_.