"'Oh, but the other ladies would laugh at me well if they saw me eating bread and milk for my luncheon. I think myself a bit of something light and nice, like eclairs or a charlotte russe, is ever so much more ladylike and nice.' "Heaven save the mark! What sort of flesh and blood do they make to put on the slender bones of a growing girl? How will they stand by her, when perhaps she leaves the shop and chooses the life of wife and mother? The answer is easy. When the pie-eating, cooky-feeding girl gets married, put it down in your note book: One more dyspeptic, peevish woman entered the lists of the unlovely." The contributor to the French review, although also condemning the careless choice of food, more especially points out the evil consequences of eating too hastily; and though M. Julva directs his attack chiefly against the _gens d'esprit_, i.e., the well bred people of France who neglect the rules of health for politeness' sake, his words apply equally well to the American business man who sacrifices his health during luncheon to the "almighty dollar." "The feverish activity of modern life," he says, "induces many people to abridge the duration of their repast, and, particularly, luncheon is taken too hastily--a practice the danger of which, as a cause of dyspepsia, cannot be overrated." This practice might not be so dangerous if, during the short time which we dedicate to our midday meal, we would at least imitate the habit of the Japanese, whom politeness requires to be absolutely silent while eating. When they like a certain dish, they express their satisfaction by graceful gestures addressed to their host, but they think it would offend him if they open their mouth for anything else except eating. Watch, on the other hand, one of our lawyers at luncheon. He has just dismissed his last client, at the moment when he should be already at court, and in order not to be too late he has to lunch in double quick time. He has to eat his viands without having time to masticate them, and he swallows his big pieces, washing them down with several glasses of wine and water, and hastens to his carriage almost without giving himself time to breathe, in order not to miss his call. Look at a Parisian dining in town. French politeness forbids him to be silent like the Japanese, and also requires of him not to speak with his mouth full of food. And if this were not enough, French gallantry commands him to serve the ladies first, so that just about when they have finished, he may commence to eat. In addition to this, if he does not want to appear ill bred, he must reply to all their questions, which he would not be able to do if he did not gulp down his morsels unchewed. What wonder, then, that most men have to suffer from eating dinner in such a manner, while all discomfort could be avoided, if the viands were served to one guest after the other in succession?