Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-11-30

;MBER 80, 1907.
Cleanliness is not only next to godll
ness but it is necessary minister tc
godliness. for no man who Is dirty can
approach God or man acceptably.
Water and Health.
But the blessing of cleansing waite
has deeper significance than its aes
thetic beneiicences. 1t Is the tounda .
ton of all good hygienic laws. 1t is
the one great means by which thu /
boards of public health are fighting
back and eradicating the plaques which /
in olden times used to decimate whole !
regions. 1t is the one great means by
which the longevity of the human race
is being increased. This fact was pow
erfully exemplifed in our Cuban and
Porto Rican experiences. For centuries
Cuba and Porto Rico had been the hot
beds Of the yellow fever plague. Thou
sands upon thousands have died of this
awful scourge. The plague once start
ed has leapcd across the strait of Flor
ida and fastened itself upon the people
of our own land. But when the Span
ish-American war was ended Major
General Leonard Wood, better known
by his truer title as DR.. Leonard Wood,
the private physician Of President NC
Kinley. invaded Cuba and Porto Rico
with cleansing water The miasmauc
gwamps. where were hatched the dead
ly mOqutoes which carried the fatal
germs. were drained off. The streets
were cleansed and the awful plague OF
yellow fever was stamped out. Ihe
tropics were made inhabitable for
white men. Water, cleansing water, Is
the greatest enemy Of disease Of all
sorts. Thank God for the water with
which we wash. Thank him for the
water with which we are making man
a healthy animal, able to overcome all
diseases except the fatal disease Of old
| age.
Water and the Farms.
We must also thank God for the wa
ter which gives drink to our corn and
wheat and barley and oats and gives
drink TO our potatoes and peas and to-
| matoes and gives drink to our orchards
and trees of all sorts. The vegetables,
like man, are dependent upon water
for their existence. Without water 1t
Is an absolute impossibility to run a
farm. If two or three "dry years" fol-
low each other, whole valleys and re-
gions are depopulated. remember In
the summer of 1896 camping in a long
valley which was once filled with
| farms and schoolhouses and churches.
The buildings were there, but the
houses were vacant There were
churches there, but no ministers. There
were schoolhouses, but neither scholars
nor teachers. There were farmhouses,
but no families dwelling within. There
were farms, but no crops. What was
the matter? The wheat and the grain
and the oats and the barley and the
fruit of the orchards In vain had cried,
'Drink, drink, give US drink The
drought kept ON and the land became
as hard and as dry as the bricks in the
\ potter's kiln Oh, today, wher you
/ read the returns OF our annual mar
vests. thank God not more foritEe sol
than for the water which has made the
i earth weld her increase Thank Goo
for abundant water, the pure life CIV
, ing water, for the water which has
, made the farm full larder for pros
porous nation.
But we must also thank God for the
water turning the miller's wheel which
grinds the grain into -four. We mus
thank him for the factories upon th'
Merrimac which weave the cotton Int
J cloth as well as for the cotton planta
| tions of Georgia and Louisiana an(
| Mississippi Water is the motive pow
er of the one and the producer OF thu
f other. We must thank him for the wa
D ter which produces the gigantic trees
S We must also thank him for the waite
r which makes the lumberman's sav
: Whirl round and round and cuts tn
: rough logs into smooth boards out
2 which we build our homes and store
D and factories. When we think OF
factory town for the most part we pic
ture the heavens blackened with smok
from scores and hundreds of furnaces
but there are thousands of factorie
: run by water alone. The water o
these streams not only irrigates tn
soil in which the crops are grown, bu
= supplies the power which changes tn
y, raw materials into the finished proc
: ucts Of the markets.
n Our Water Highways.
r But we have still another reason VIII
r the American nation should be thanh
full for its water. 1t produces the grail
r and the cotton and turns the wheels
s the factory. 1t also furnishes the grea
e highways over which the commoditie
IS Of one part of the country are trans
It ported to other parts of the countr!
h and this blessing is not confined to OF
f. long coast waterways which the Pan'
Y ma canal will soon connect, but 1t ais
II includes our vast network of navigab
y river and lake systems which fC
X years offered the only practical NEAR
ii of intercommunication between diffe
'e ent parts of our land.
n Open your map and study in the mr.
+. place that vast water system whic
j. starts from New York city and move
n up through the Hudson river, then
le through the Erie canal and throue
e Lakes Ontario and Erie and Hurc
lie and Michigan and Superior. Have yc
u ever stopped to think what such sy
RS tenn Of waterways means to our natiC
Or from commercial standpoint? In O
W der to make this system complete l.
m Witt Clinton inaugurated the most st
foot nf fhQf