Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-28
Nh. AND MRS. sowseR

home the other day half an hour ahead of hi
usual time, and being loaded down with Z
heavy purchase Of something.
Don't say . word-nos word, and don't
bother me for ten minutesl hope Pm in
time 70 avert the dangerr"
She turned pale and tell upon the sofa
and he hurriedly broke the string securing
the package, seized the three quart bottles
which comprised its contents and rushed
up stairs, down the back stairs, down into
the basement aud up again. A strange,
disagreeable odor followed him as be
hustled around. and by the time he had re-
turned to the sitting room Mrs. Bowser
had recovered sufficiently to ask:
Mr.. Bowser, what on earth are you do
| ing, and what in the name of goodness ia
| that stuff"
What have been doing? Saving our
| lives, Mrs. Bowser-saving the life of every
one under this roofP
"But IL didn't know our lives were in
danger"
"Of course not. If the house was on fire
| from top to bottom and the firemen pitch
! ing our furniture ont Of the windows you
| might possibly realize the fact, but it has
never struck ysu that death silently turks
In every room IN this house"
How you talk. Mr.. Bowser! What has
been the danger hanging over us?"
Microbes, Mrs. Bowserl" he whispered,
as he sat down and wiped his heated face.
microbes and bacteria-millioas of 'emp
at can't bep' she replied.
Cant it! You've lived in New York
two weeks, been out as far as Broadway
once, and you think you know all about
It'll knew, of course. but having SO many
other things TO see to this one slipped my
mind until today"
But what causes that terrible odor!"
Nothing terrible about it, as see. On
the contrary, l rather like it. 1t is the
odor of disinfectants, Mrs. Bowser-the
odor Of something which has no doubt
saved our lives"
"How?"
"By killing off the microbes and bacteria,
which would soon have entered our sys-
TENS and produced terrible illness, if not
DEATH
well, l suppose you know best" she
said. as she opened window to let a. yard
or two of the carbolic smell dodge out.
Certainly do, certainly. All husbands
do. Mrs. Bowser, let me draw you pict-
ure of microbe. You can then realize
the danger which menaced u.s."
He drew the insect. and as she surveyed
it in surprise and disgust, he continued:
Nice thing to have about forty of those
birds cantering around through your sys-
tenn, eh?''
"Where do they come fromi"
Sewer gas. By this time tomorrow the
house would have been swarming with
them, and nothing on earth could have
saved us from typhoid fever or diphtheria.
If the microbe was the only thing to look
out for shouldn't have been so anxious,
but there is the bacteria"
Whats that?"
Here is a picture of him. Comes in the
same way, and his mission is to eat out the
lungs 1t is calculated that 1000 of them
will eat out the strongest mans lungs in a
month"
And they were in this house2" she
asked
Right here, in this house"
And ready to be absorbed into our sys-
temst"
Not only ready, but anxious"
you are sure you don't mean cock
reaches? saw two under the kitchen sink
yesterday. and was going to ask you to get
some powdered borax."
Mrs. Bowser," he began, as he stood up,
''are you growing soft in the top of your
headS Do I know Bengal tiger from a
woodchuck?" .
IL suppose So"
But don't know a microbe or bacte-
ria from a cockroach3" he thundered.
"But never heard you speak of them
before, and LIP
"Do you imagine that or any other hus-
band sits down and tells his wife all he
knows?" he shouted Because haven't
told you that a jack rabbits legs have three
joints is that any reason why haven't
known it for forty yearsr'
But this is medical science, isn't it2"
she softly protested.
And suppose it isl Do you suppose I've
gone sloshing around all these years with
nothing but recipe for making soft soap
in my head7"
She was silent, and after striding up and
down the room few times he halted be-
fore her and continued:
"a wife isn't expected to know these
things, of course, but I'll be accounted
pretty husband and father and member of
a scientific club if didn't know all about
microbes and bacteria"
But that picture of a bacteria looks like
q lobster" she persisted
'Lobsteri Looks like lobster, does it?
Very we'll, Mrs. Bowser, this discussion
will end right here. 1t is plain enough
that you haven't the necessary knowledge
to appreciate it."
"But don't you"-
Never you mind, Mrs. Bowserl Let it
drop right here. Is supper readys"
The odor was so strong in the dining
room that the butter tasted of it, and after
supper the cook called Mrs. Bowser into
the kitchen to ask:
Is it going to be like this all the time"
"Oh. no. Mr.. Bowser had to kill off the
and bacteria, you see."
Whats them,"
"I'll have him come out and explain"
No need of it, ma'am. for my bundle is |
all made up, and Pm going. A man who'll
drag dead cats through his own house
would cheat q poor girl out of her wages
at the end of q month. Microbes and bac- |
terra, chr don't believe it! Let him show
them to me up in the Biological gardensr'
When Mrs Bowser told Mr.. Bowser |
what had occurred he bristled up, got red |
in the face and exclaimed:
81 see how it Is: couldn't carry your |
point with me, and so you went out and |
upset the grill Mrs. Bowser. you are