Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-07
Continued iron, page Z

That night the flled-out blank mailed to
Mr. and Mrs Briggs read in part:
Color. excellent. Pulse. slightly increased.
Appetite. remarkable. General condition un-
usually fine.
Yet as Sanitas lay in his bed that night,
he wondered if the germs would leave him
alive till morning!
RLINKER'S mother was very fine lady.
= and the fact that she took in washing
only made her the more attractive to Sanitas
Perfection Briggs; for on the day he fell
overheard off the bridge, and then rode
home on the back of a coal wagon, she
washed his clothes and ironed them and
made them look like new, SO that Miss
Mandriver never knew anything about it.
1t was important that day too; for there
wasn't another clean white suit in the closet,
the rest being at the hygienic laundry.
The day after the first day (when Blinker
and Skinny and Boob had taken him out of
the yard) Sanitas had gone home with Bin
ker to get "hunk of corned beef a new
delicacy which he found most enjoyable. and
he had told Blinkers mother all about him
self. including the soiled white linen suit
hidden in his bed, and she had said:
"You poor little chap! If they find it
suppose they'll skin you. Here's what you
do now. Fling it over the fence to my
Georgy, and III wash it and iron it, and you
can get it back where it was taken from, and
they'll never know the difference-thc
sneaks!s
Which was successfully carried out in
every detail, and became more or less of a
regular affair as the days went on and SAM
tas Perfection began to be regular truant
from the white tiled back yard.
On the morning after his first flight he had
au-al-arad RI find himself ,1plyi11e6 nv the
germs and it had frightened him. Later on,
however, it had made him bold, and when
Blinker called again he went with him. For
tunately for him, Miss Mandriver's alb
sences from the house in the afternoon were
getting quite the usual thing, and had. in
fact. been going on for sometime before
Sanitas had discovered them: SO that there
was little danger of his being found out.
And when by the end of the first week he
learned how safe it was he ceased waiting
for the gang to call him. but went alone,
joining them in the back lot
To be sure, there had been some narrow
escapes: but what does small boy care for
that. even if he be the Regeneration of the
Human Race? They only add zest to life!
THE daily reports had been going out regu-
larlv to Mr.. and Mrs. Briggs. and they
must have been encouraging; for in letter
sent to Miss Mandriver. Briggs wrote:
The steady improvement of our beloved son
not only justifies our action in selecting you,
o faithful coadjutor in the great Cause, to
guard Sanitas Perfection in our absence, but
also corroborates our judgment in the manner
of bringing him up, of which l am especially
glad at this particular time since. | regret to
say. we have recently encountered some rdicu-
lous and bitter criticism of our methods in GER
tain quarters
Here, in this otherwise enlightened city, for
instance, some of the papers in writing up
last lecture Tin which we told on how little
actual volume of food we had brought S. P. to
health and strength and elucidated our system
of guarding him strictly from outer associations
with the world), have not only ridicued us, but
have suggested that the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Children in our own city
should be notified of our treatment of the boy.
Think of such Grass bigotry and ignorance!
Your bulletins, showing how Sanitas has been
fourishing even in the hot weather, under our
treatment as applied by your equally worthy
hands. have resolved us upon bold experiment
to refute these critics and for all. 1t is
this:
We shall leave here tomorrow morning, and
bring with guests several news
paper men who have been most active here
in opposing and our movement. They will
be joined by the representatives of the papers
in our own city, whom | shall notify, and to-
gether will form committee whom shall
bring IN the house with MS We shall arrive