More than likely there would have been a couple pieces of bread in Elsie's lunch pail. The bread would have been homemade by her mother with the very wheat grown on the family's farm. The meat might be either pork or beef, raised on the farm, butchered and cured so it would last throughout the year. There was no refrigeration. The lunch was rounded off with a piece of fruit, an apple or a pear from the trees in their orchard. For a beverage, she would have a drink of water or maybe some coffee, which she would have put by the wood stove, to keep it hot until lunchtime.

Elsie also might have had some cookies in her lunch box. Here's a recipe to try. It's Elsie's very own recipe for sugar cookies.

Elsie Heine Jahn's Million Dollar Brown Sugar Cookies

Cream together:

½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 cup shortening or 2 sticks of butter

Add:

1 egg
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
¼ tsp. baking soda

Chill dough. Drop dough the size of walnuts on a cookie sheet. Press flat with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.