Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-09-09
THE pANcEsous HoUsE-FLY

This is the time of year when the
nouse-fy is most pestiferous and gets
in his deadly work in spreading disease
germs. The following is taken from a
circular issued by the Merchants
Association Committee on Pollution of
the Waters of New York:
Flies are the most dangerous insects
we have. They are much more dan
gerous than bees or hornets; these
may sting you, and the sting is painful,
but you soon get over the pain. Flies
do much more harm than this. They
walk over filthy places like sewers and
garbage cans, and after eating the filthy
food which they fird there, they come
into your house and walk on the food
you eat, carrying on their feet the tiny
germs which live in filth just as you
live in house. These germs are not
only filthy and disgusting, but many OF
them cause such diseases as typhoid
fever, cholera infantum and summer
complaint. When the flies bring them
from some dirty place to your food or
your face and hands, you may swallow
these germs without knowing it and be
taken i'll with one of these diseases. So
the f1v that seems so harmless may do
YOU much more harm than bee or a
hornet.
Your parents should place screens at
their doors and windows during the
warm weather, to keep the flies out OF
the house. If they cannot screen all
the rooms, they should screen those in
which food is kept; and if anyone is
sick in the house, flies should be kept
from the sick-room, so that they may
not carry germs from the sick person to
the rest of the family.
Children may help to keep flies from
swarming in and around houses, and
from carrying germs of sickness from
one person to another. In the first
place, they should not buy candy, fruit
or other food which is left in front
of stores or anywhere else where flies
may feed and walk on it. Flies lay
their eggs chiefly in stable manure, and
if this is left without screens or other
covers to keep the flies away, great
numbers will be Matched in every stable.
If you know of stores where food is not
covered from flies, or of stables that
have swarms of them around, get your
father or mother to write to the Board
of Health about them, and the Board
will make the store-keepers or stable
men obey it's rules. But before you
report other people for being careless
and dirty and so making it possible for
flies to become a nuisance, be sure
that your own house is clean, and that
no garbage-cans or boxes are left UNI
covered to attract flies.
If you and all the people you know
will follow this advice, there will not be
nearly so many flies to plague you in
hot weather, and there will not be
nearly so much sickness and death,
especially among children, as now.
RULES FOR DEALING WITH THE FLY
Keep the flies away from the sick.
especially those i'll with contagious dis
eases. Kill every fly that strays into
the sick room. His body is covered
with disease germs.
Do not allow decaying material of
any sort to accumulate on or near your
premises.
All refuse which tends in any way to
fermentation, such as bedding, straw,
paper waste and vegetable matter
should be disposed of or covered with
lime or kerosene oil.
Screen all food.
Keep all receptacles for garbage
carefully covered and the cans cleaned
or sprinkled with oil or lime.
Keep all stable manure in vault or
pit, screened or sprinkled with lime,
oil or other cheap preparation.
Cover food after a meal; burn or
bury all table refuse.
Screen all food exposed for sale.
Screen all windows and doors, es-
pecially the kitchen and dining room.
Don't forget, if you see flies, their
breeding place is a nearby filth. 1t
may be behind the door, under the
table or in the cuspidor.
If there is no dirt and filth there will
be no flies.
If there is nuisance in the neighbor-
hood write at once to the Health De-