Cheyenne record., 1916-02-24

starve to death. And very few did
that. They preferred to get food for
US, and make clothes for US. and pre-
pare and administer to US a thousand
"a mussel shell. Hoo-Hoo-a thou
sand satisfactions and delights. And
was Professor Smith in those days
Prof. James Howard Smith.
And | was very happy. and l had
beautiful things to eat, and my hands
were soft because did not work with
them, and my body was clean all over
and dressed In the softest garments"
He surveyed his NANCY goatskin with
disgust. I'VE did not wear such things
in those days. Even the slaves had
better garments. And we were most
clean. We washed our faces and
hands often every day. You boys
never wash unless you fall into the
water or go in swimming"
Neither do you. Granser," Hoo-Hoo
retorted.
Il know. l know. l am a filthy old
man. But times have changed No
body washes these days. and there are
no conveniences. 1t is sixty years
since | have seen a piece OF soap.
You do not know what soap Is. and
shall not tell you. for | am telling the
story Of the Scarlet Death. You know
what sickness Is. We called 1t dis
ease. Very many of the diseases came
from what we called germs Remem-
Der that word--germs A germ is a
very small thing 1t Is like a wood.
tick such as you find on the dogs in
the spring Of the year when they run
in the forest Only the germ is very
small. 1t is SO small that you cannot
see tt"
Hoo-Hoo began to laugh.
You're queer un. Granser. talking
about things you can't see. II you
can't see 'em. how do you know they
are? That's what ! want to know.
How do you know anything you can't
see?"
"A good question. very good ques-
ton. HooHoo. But we did see-some
of them. We had what we called mi
croscopes and ultramcroscopes. and
we put them to our eyes and looked
through them. SO that we saw things
larger than they really were. and many
things We could not see without the
microscopes at all. Our best ultra
microscopes could make a germ look
forty thousand times larger A mus
sci shell is thousand times larger.
A mussel shell Is thousand fingers
like Edwin's. Take forty mussel shells.
and by as many times larger was the
germ when we looked at it through
microscope. And after that, we
had other ways. by using what we
called moving pictures. Of making the
forty-thousand times germ many.
many thousand times larger still And
thus we saw all these things which
our eyes of themselves could not see
Take a grain Of sand Break 1t into
ten pieces. Break one Of those pieces
into ten. and one Of those into ten,
and one Of those into ten. and one Of
those into ten. and do 1t all day. and
maybe. by sunset, you will have a
piece as small as one Of the gerns."
The boys were openly incredulous
Hare-Lip shifted and sneered and Hoo
Hoo snichered. until Edwin nudged
them to be silent
THE woodtick sucks the blood of
the dog. but the germ. being 10 very
small, goes right into the blood of the
body. and there it has many children.
In those days there would be as many
as billion-a crab shell, please-as
many as that crab shell In one mans
body. We called germs micro-organ-
isms. When a few million. or a Dill
lion, OF them were in man. in all the
blood of a man. he was sick. These
germs we're a disease. There were
many different kinds Of them-more
different kinds than there are grains
OF sand on this beach. We knew only
few Of the kinds The micro-organic
world was an invisible world, a world
we could not see. and we knew very
little about 1t. Yet, we did know
something. There was the bacillus an.
thracis: there was the micrococus;
there was the bacterium termo. and
the bacterium lactis-that's what
turns the goat milk sour even to this
day. Hare-Lip; and there were schizo-
mycetes without end. And there were
many others. :"
But the Scarlet Death. Granser."
Edwin at last suggested.
Yes, yes. Edwin: had forgotten.
Sometimes the memory OF the past is
very strong upon me. and forget that
am a dirty old man, clad in goat
skin. wandering with my savage
grandsons who are goatherds in the
primeval wilderness. The fieeting