The methods adopted by other societies were very similar. A common feature of all was the infrequency of the meal. As a rule a child would receive a dinner once a week, at the most twice a week.[8] It is true that the dinners, unlike those supplied at the end of the century, when the predominant feature was soup, seem always to have been substantial and to have consisted of hot meat.[9] But making all allowance for the nutritive value of the meal, its infrequency prevents us from placing much confidence in the enthusiastic reports of the various societies as to the beneficial result upon the children. "Experience has proved," writes the Destitute Children's Dinner Society in 1867, "that one substantial meat dinner per week has a marked effect on the health and powers of the children."[10] "Not only is there a marked improvement in their physical condition," reports the same society two years later, "but their teachers affirm that they are now enabled to exert their mental powers in a degree which was formerly impossible."[11] The Ragged School Union in 1870 reports to the same effect. "The physical benefit of these dinners to the children is great; but it is not the body only that is benefited; the teachers agree in their opinion that those who are thus fed become more docile and teachable."[12] Footnote 8: We have only found one case where the dinner was given as often as three times a week. (See letter from John Palmer, Hon. Sec. of the Clare Market Ragged Schools, _ibid._, October 16, 1871.) Footnote 9: Thus a dinner given by the Refuge for Homeless and Destitute Children to pupils of St. Giles and St. George, Bloomsbury, consisted of boiled and roast beef, plenty of potatoes, and a thick slice of bread, the portion given to each child being abundant. (_Ibid._, November 27, 1869.) Footnote 10: _Ibid._, December 5, 1867. Footnote 11: _Ibid._, March 26, 1869. Footnote 12: Report of Ragged School Union for 1870, quoted in Report on Metropolitan Soup Kitchens and Dinner Tables, 1871, p. 58. Meals were given only during the winter, though one society at any rate, the Destitute Children's Dinner Society, realised the importance of continuing the work throughout the year--an importance even now not universally appreciated--their object being "not to relieve temporary distress only, but by an additional weekly meal of good quality and quantity, to improve the general health and moral condition of the half starved and neglected children who swarm throughout the poor districts of London."[13] Funds apparently did not permit of their achieving this object.[14] Footnote 13: Letter from the Treasurer of the Destitute Children's Dinner Society, _The Times_, April 15, 1868. Footnote 14: In that year (1868) dinners were given during nine months, being discontinued only from July to September, but in subsequent years they appear to have been provided during the winter months only.