The Washington times., 1911-05-22
THE TINES DAILY SERIAL STORY
ONE WAY OUT
BY WILLIAM CARLETON
Copyrighted, 1911, by Small. Maynard Company.

source and was stored in a carefully
guarded reservoir.
It was frequently analysed and there
wasn't a case OF typhoid In the ward
milk was the great danger down here.
At the small shops II was often careless
Iy stored and carelessly handled.
From the beginning. | bought our milk
a quart more for it. Ruth picked out
all the fish and meat and OF course
nothing tainted in this line could be
sold to her. We ate few canned goods
and then nothing but canned vegetables.
Many Of our neighbors used canned
meats. don't know whether any sick
ness resulted from this or not but know
that they often left the stuff for
| hours in an opened tin.
Many of the tenements swarmed
! with flies in the summer although 1t
was a small matter to keep them out
OF Tour rooms. So IL the canned stuff
didn't get infected it was a wonder.
| The sanitary arrangements In the
fiat were good, though here again
many families proceeded to make
them bad about as fast as they could
These people didn't seem to mind
| dirt in any form.
1t was a perfectly simple and mex
pensiye matter to keep themselves
| and their surroundings clean IL they
cared to take the trouble.
Then the roof contributed largely
a great deal of time up there during
the day and the boy slept there during
the summer.
Our simple food and exercise also
| helped, while for me nothing could
have been better than my daily plunge
| in the salt water.
| l kept this up as long as the bath
house was open and in the winter took
a cold sponge and rundown every
night. So, too, did the boy.
| For the rest we all took sensible pre-
| cautions against exposure. We dress
| ed warmly and kept our feet dry.
| Here again our neghbors were insane
| ly foolish.
They never changed their clothes
until bed time. didn't keep them clean
or fresh at any time. and they lived
in temperature of eighty-five with
the air foul from many breaths and
| tobacco smoke. Even the children
had to breathe this.
Then both men and women went
| out from this into the cold air either
| oVer-dreSsed or under-dreSsed. The
result of such foolishness very nat
| urally was tuberculosis, pneumonia,
/ typhoid and about everything else
| that contributes to a high death rate.
Not only this but one person suffer
ing from any of these things infect
| ed whole family.
| Such conditions were not due to a
lack of money. but to a lack Of educa-
| ton. The new generation was max
ing some changes however. Often a
| girl or boy in the public schools would
| come home and transform the three
| or four rooms though always under
| protest from the elders.
Clean surroundings and fresh air
| troubled the old folks.
! Ruth, too, was responsible for many
| changes for the better in the lives
of these people. Her very presence in
| a room was an inspiration for clean
illness. Her clothes were no better than
/ theirs but she stood out among them
| like vestal virgin. She came into
| their quarters and made the women
ashamed that the rooms were not bet
ter fitted to receive so pure being.
| You would scarcely have recognized
| Michele's rooms at the end of the first
| year. The windows were cleaned, the
| floors scrubbed, and even the bed linen
was washed occasionally.
The baby gained in weight and Mi
chele, when he wanted to smoke either
open window. But Michele was an ex-
! ception.
Ruth's efforts were not confined to
our own building. either. Her influence
spread down the street and through the
whole district. The district nurse was
frequent visitor and kept her informed
of all her cases.
Wherever Ruth could do anything she
did 1t. Her first object was always to
awaken the women to the value of
cleanliness and after that she tried her
best to teach them little ways of pre-
pairing their food more economically.
Few of them knew the value of oat-
meal, for instance, though of course,
their macaroni and spaghetti was a
pretty good substitute.
In fact, Ruth picked up many new
dishes of this sort for herself from
among them.
Some families spent as much for beer
as for milk. Ruth couldn't change that
practice. but she did make them more
careful where they bought their milk
especially when there was a baby In
the house.
Then too, she shared all her secrets
of where and how to buy cheaply. Some
times advantage was taken of these
hints, but more often not. They didn't
pay much more for many articles than
she did but they didn't get as good
quality.
good and satisfied their hunger you
couldn't make them take an extra effort
and get stuff because II was more nu-
tritious or more healthful. They couldn't
think ahead except in the matter OF
saving dollars and cents.
These people, of course. were OF the
lower class. There was another ele-
ment of decidedly finer quality. Guisep-
pc, for example: was one of these. and
there were hundreds Of others. 1t was
among these that Ruth's influence
counted for the most.
They not only took advantage of her
superior intelligence in conducting their
households. but they breathed in some
thing of the sould of her.
When 1 saw them send for her In
their grief and in their 10Y, when I
heard them ask her advice with al
most the confidence with which they
prayed, when l heard them give her
such names as 1.-The angel mother" "the
blessed American saint l felt very
proud and very humble.
Continuation of This Story VIII De
Found I'm Tomorrow Issue
of The Times.)