The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-19
MAN N MICROBE.
A B~ostonian Rebels mt the "Swagge
of the Germ"

Boston Transcript.
I am told by my wife and by my wife's
doctor that 1 am insubordinate on the sub
ject of germs. That an able-bodied, stout
hearted, full-grown man in the prime of
life should allow himself to be stood up
before the nature of things and hit between
the ~eyes-felled to the ground by an in
initely infinitesimal, spindling, w%riggling,
curling. invisible. indivisible ihfusoria-a
bit of oblivion floating in oblivion-and that
this should be called "a natural DEATH
seems to me. 1 admit. one of the most mon
strous, unseemly and reckless jokes a uni
verse is capable of. L suppose a germ is
being sent after my immortal soul at this
moment for u~ttering such a sentiment.
My dear wife. on the other hand God
bless her and germs preserve herr. has ex-
actly the contrary feeling. The moment a
germ appears, or is mentioned as about to
appear. within worrying distance of us 900
miles) she throws up her arms. utters a cry
Of despair and falls as fiat before it as If 1t
were the very image of the Creator. The
hope of my family, the joy of my married
life, is thus entirely dependent upon the
continued good will of a few germs.
Under these circumstance l need not be
blamed, perhaps, for bringing before you
the important question:, what is the proper
and Christian attitude toward a GERM
That is, am / a Christian, or is my wife?
Inasmuch as my wife and my wife's doctor
and the germ stand together, there is OBJ
viouSly nothing left for me to do but TO ap-
peal to the public. / make my special APP
peal to that lowly but not uncommon class
TO which l b~elong-the husband class.
/ admit that IL is necessary for me TO
agree with a universe, if / live in it; that
1t is necessary to me to feel that Ii is a
fairly well-made one; that II has some sense
Of proportion in 1t. and probably Ito be per-
fectly frank, If a universe fails to realize
my own Importance in 1t, up TO a certain
point, and the importance OF my wife, 1t
might as well $50 far as l am concerned)
not be a universe at all. 1t is no mCre
than fair to admit this. Many other peo-
pie feel the same way.
Well, as L was going to say, the entire
question-as between me and a germ for
instance-must always resolve itself at last
into the divine, human, inevitable question
Of all life and religion and art-the ques-
ton: Which is which?
Now IL stands TO reason that when, in
the course of time, a universe-according
to the testimony of our wives doctors, at
least-is playing fast and loose with things.
putting big things in as subheads under
little ones-one of three facts Is certain.
Either the universe is lying to the doctors
or the doctors are lying about the uni
verse, or the universe is one that can hard
ly be said TO be worthy of the plain, sensi-
BILE people who are living In it.
We do not expect very much. We are
more than willing-most Of us-to be sub
heads But we do contend that that kind
Of mutually respectful feeling between a
universe and the subheads in it. which Is
the first bare necessity OF living in a uni
verse at all. must at least be granted TO us.
Pain is nothing. being averaged by the
one who knows and who only can know.
The pain Of being a subhead Is nothing but
the pain OF being the wrong subhead, is in
finite, incalculable, destroys the meaning of
the whole place We live In from the farthest
foundations of matter TO the roofs of the
stars.
am not saying that I do not believe In
germs. nor am / saying that l do not believe
in the germ theory. nor am / unwilling that
| should be made tributary in due time,
in a general way. TO microbes. If there are
enough Of them. What l am ~coEtending for
is that there must be enough OF them. that
they must be particularly distinguished and
useful ones In the economy of things. and If
God has so made the world that | must be
swallowed by germs in il. or germs must
be swallowed by me-. l feel responsible. IL
swallowing is TO be done. for doing the
swallowing myself. This is what l call a
Christian attitude. That God who created