Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-01-11
Mr.. AND MRS. B0WSER.

prevent, and he IS always doing the
right thing in the nick OF time.
One day he came home an hour
ahead of time, his cOuntenance
wearing a very important look,
and the first thing he did was to
bolt upstairs to our bedroom and
lower the window. although | had
Just closed 1t after airing the room
for two hours. He then came clat-
terIng down to ask me for a pan.
"What on earth do you want
with a pan p asked.
ITO save all our lives !" he an.
swered-
"How r.
"Your bedroom is full of poison
ous gases, which must be absorbed
by an open vessel of water"
"Nonsense |"
81 expected it. That's the
weapon of the ignorant ! Mrs.
Bowser, if you want to die by pois-
onous gases poisoning the blood, /
hav'nt nothing to say, but | shall
save the life of our child ifposslble.
| have felt a strange lassitude for
several days, and a sanitary plumb
or tells me that we have poisonous
air in the ROOM"
"Your lassltude couldn't have
come from being out to club and
lodge four successive nights until
IL o'clock, could itl'
He seized the pan and hurried
upstairs, and when he filed 1t at
the lavatory he sat it in the middle
of the floor and came down with a
relieved look on his face, to say;
"See if you don't feel better to-
morrow than you haye for a month,
It's a wonder we are not all dead"
"Did the ancients know about
these poisonous gases ~ | asked.
"Not a thing. They never gave
them a thought"
"And yet the average OF health
was II per cent. above that OF to-
day, and the average of mortality
that much lower How do you
account for 1t 7"
"Oh, we'll, if you want to die, &c
ahead. Ill even buy the rope anC
help you to hang yourself. | ex
pected this, of course, but ridicul(
never moves me, Mrs. Bowser-
never
Two ho urs later he went upstairs
in his slippers to look for a paper
in another coat, and, of course, h'
sat his foot plump down in thai
pan of water. There was a yel
and a jump, and over went the par
and when | got up there he stood
holding up one leg, as you have
seen a hen do on a wet day. VIVA
| said on that occasion kept Mr.
Bowser very quiet for a whole
week. Then he began to gro"
restless again, and one night he
brought home suspicious looking
package and sneaked it upstairs
After supper he suddenly dis
appeared, and when l looked TO
him upstairs he had something II
a basin and was about to hold l
over a gas burner.
"Mr. Bowser, have you got
new theory | asked.
"Look here, Mrs. Bowser," h
replied, as he put down the basin
"you have heard of bacteria, l pre-
sume."
ayes, sir"
"They are the germs OF dlseas
floating about. They are alive
II inhaled cholera, yellow fever ant
other dread diseases are the result
Fumigation kills them"
"Are you going to fumlgate thi
room 7"
81 am. 1 am going to kill off th
dreaded bacteria
"WelI, you'll drive us out OF tn
| uOUbb Vi MIL uo'
I went down stairs and he burne
compound of tar and sulphu
In ten minutes we had to ope
, doors and windows, and the COO
came running IN to ask
ais it crematory Mr.. Bowser
trying on us :"
81 am simply driving out IL
! bacteria" he replied, coming dow
} the stairs at that moment.
"And there's bacteria IN tn
house I"
"Tm afraid So"
3 "And I've worked here fol
3 weeks under the noses Of the drea
! ful creatures Mr.. Bowser, quit
l quits now"
And quit she did. We had
sleep on the sitting-room floor la
night, and three weeks later eve
caller could detect that odor.
was hardly gone, however, VIII
Mr.. Bowser began to sniff arouI
again.
Q "Any more bacteria 7" l asked
- "Mrs. Bowser, if you want to
70 here and die have no objection
T. but I don't propose to neglect CO.
r' mon. sense precautions to preser
@ my own health
. "Is anything wrong now y
10 81 think 80. think | can