The record-union., 1897-09-01

breathe again, "diphtheritic germs. and
so on, are quite good in themselves, you
know. They're no more criminal than
your own butcher and poulterer and cat
and dog: l go further than most peo-
pie, I know" she said with a grim
kind Of smile. My one idea is uni
versal justice. And 1 say if the climate
| of the interior suits them, why it's
nothing short of barbarous to deny it
to them
Il don't understand you one bit,"
got in at last
My dear" she said, 1.-The plain truth
is, we've no right to take their lives!"
But in self defense?" 1 murmured.
helplessly fabbergasted; surely it's
ustifiabie-a-''
"Fratricide?" she chirped cutely.
But they would take our lives if we
didn't take theirs"
And that's a nice Christian prin-
ciple to go upon!'' she cried.
We'll. how do you propose to avoid
it?"
Murders one thing and prevention's
another You admit that, don't your"
"Of course"
And they've just as much right to
their lives as We to ours. People will
recognize that some day They're
slowly waking up now One by one
innocent helpless lives are being pro-
tected. 1t began with the earliest hui
manitarians who made slaves instead
of sacrifices of prisoners of war. and
its only just reached dumb animals af
ter all these thousands of years! But
it's the tendency of the age, and I'm
only just a very little in advance of it.
Your children will hold views you think
absurd, and look on you as a savage,
probably even as a murderer. And
some day there will be universal rec
ognition of the universal law, and the
earth Will be one huge paradise!"
But if the creatures are not to kill
each other, what will they live on?"
Vegetables" she said triumphantly
And much healthier, tool"
But vegetables have organic life.
too, and by-and-by no doubt We shall
find out that they have consciousness
and all the rest of it,
Then perhaps some chemical-you
confuse me" And there was a va
cant, struggling. bafied look in her
t
seen before.
She looked so distressed that 1 want
ed to do nothing but make her COM
Portable again.
You didn't tell me what your pre-
yention was to be-" I said.
She frightened up like a coal alight
in a draught. and turned to her open
ing address in the book.
I
and good air and avoiding contagion."
But let us be logical. dear lady"
said invftingly I can't see that you
have any right either to deprive them
Of sustenance and prevent them from
propagating their kind if they wish to.
And surely death by starvation is very
painful 70 them?"
She was silent. Her eyebrows went
up IN Q three -coTnered sort of way, and
made puzzled creases in all directions.
My dear. I wish you hadn't sng
gested that" she said at last. Il shall
hardly know how to act"
And you must remember that they
only live by killing the good germs in
you-which have every bit as much
right to live as they
She looked startled and passed her
hand over her forehead.
"Q-quite So" she murmured.
"An1 the good ones don't take peo-
pies lives, and the bad ones do. And
we've no right" I said going back to
grown-up tones, "since you take your
stand on right, to let our fellow crea-
lures be murdered by them"
She looked at me frightened.
They say can only see one side of a
thing at time" she said in a mourn
full confusion, very pathetic, land 1
hadn't thought of all that"
She looked so hopelessly bewildered
and distressed and dropped her hands
in such miserable, abandoned way,
that 1 passed abruptly to the curate's
latest twins.
AS I said good by she smiled sadly
at me till the kissing crust was a mass
Of worried creases, and said:
My dear, I wish you hadn't made
that suggestion."
But when I ran back two minutes
later for my sunshade, she had got out
the orange book again and was reading
happily in it her eloquent setting forth
of the aims o fthe Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Germs, and her
face was slowly turning again to peace
full and benevolent kissing crust And
her niece, Daisy, who lived with her,
/ looked at her and then smiled at me.
as though she and I shared some anus
ing secret about the little woman I
stared back colby, and Daisy, redden-
ing. looked away
For a week or so I saw nothing of
her. Then one day she came down to
me and stood in the middle of the room
with her hands spread out and her
beady eyes glittering with emotion.
"Daisy's got diphtheria," was all she
said.
And I waited.
And Rudolf, the man she's engaged
to. you know. says it's all my fault
He says if she dies I shall have killed
her. Oh, he's been saying such awful
things to mel" She clasped her poor
little hands to her poor big head. "Oh,
he makes me so bewildered and con-
fused. And he does nothing but ramp
and stamp about the house. 1 told him
he was mad. and should be locked up,
and he said I was And he said it was
no good saying any more, and I said
there was a great deal more to be said
but, noWeNer, IL Shueu there AHu
it isn't my fault. I know it isn't. I've
never brought a loose germ into the
house. Not a single one. I assure you.
my dear. And I'd rather''-she hesi-
tated. and made a big swallow, and
then dashed bravely. on-"Id rather kill
a million germs all myself than have
Daisy diei But oh, I'm SO torn in two!
It's so nice to think of them having
a really good meal. you know-such a
hnn hE- .rirl. l,.,t thar, Il thirIx nf hor.