Moreover, it is encouraging to notice that this education of the children in the matter of taste is not without its effect on the home diet. This was observed as long ago as 1895. In giving evidence before the Committee of the London School Board, Mrs. Burgwin declared that, as a result of the porridge breakfasts given to the school children, there was "an increasing demand upon the local shop-keepers by the poor families themselves."[525] "At first," said Miss Honnor Morten, "the children did not care for porridge, but the result of the breakfasts has been that many now persuade their parents to make it for them."[526] "The children," says Lady Meyer, who has started penny dinners in connection with the Health Centre at Newport, "act as missionaries to their mothers, comparing the meals at the Health Centre with those at their homes, much to the disparagement of the latter, which quickly brought the more intelligent mothers to the centre to 'see how it was done.'"[527] Footnote 525: Report of the Special Committee of the London School Board on Underfed Children, 1895, Appendix I., p. 7. Footnote 526: Report of the General Purposes Committee of the London School Board on Underfed Children, 1899, Appendix I., p. 12. Footnote 527: _A Health Centre and Dental Clinic in a Rural District, Newport, Essex_, 1911, p. 6. As far as the children are concerned, indeed, whether we consider the improvement in physique, mental capacity or manners, there is no doubt that the provision of school meals has proved of the greatest benefit. CHAPTER VI THE EFFECT ON THE PARENTS