The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-03-17
ARE We TOO PUSSY
ABOUT The GERMs7
BELIEVES HYGIENIC BUSINESS
MORE DANGEROUS TO
HEALTH OF CHILD. y

1t was a big word for a child Of
seven or so, but It was uttered with
correctness and confidence which
showed that the little girl was ac-
customed to 1t as a regular item in
her vocabulary. The nurse answered
with some asperity that it was. ut"
was glass of milk that the child
was about to drink. ! firmly believe
that the nurse was lying. II so, l
hope the recording angel took len
lent view of the offense and allowed
for the provocation.
The child was one of family
brought up systematically on the
soundest hygienic principles. The
task of their parents was difficult
one, because expert opinion varied
so much as to what the soundest
hygienic principles were. The only
way of solving the difficulty was to
ascertain the latest principles and
adopt them, pro and con. the sound
est.
Just then they were undergoing a
regimen of vegetarianism and fresh
air. Their feet were sandled, their
thin, poor little feet were stockingless
their puffy faces nut brown, but sal
low, with the exposure. They lived
mainly on nuts-nuts for breakfast,
other sorts of nuts mashed and boiled
and served under fancy names for
dinner, bread and nut butter for tea.
They were allowed to spend their
pocket money on chocolate, provided
that it was nut milk chocolate.
And yet, even when they were in
health-which was seldom-they had
poor appetites. Their anxious par
ents were doubtless right in refusing
to attribute this to the nuts, and still
less to the fresh air. 1t was assumed
that the transition from the last
treatment diet of beefsteak,
gravey and bananas, and abundant
hygienic woolens to induce and abb
sorb perspiration-had been rather
too abrupt. The next transition, it
was determined, would be more ju-
diciously conducted.
They were rather an expensive
family to maintain. Doctors bills
are burden-some tax upon ones in
come, especially when one has the
doctor about the house during most
of the year. Then, there was also
the doctor at the seaside and his
bills. But the doctors were not all.
George and Dorothy had both been
in the hands of an eye specialist, and
both wore costly spectacles which
were always getting broken-good-
ness knows why, for neither of them
INDUCED in so insanitary a recrea-
tion as romping. Lucy had shown an
incipient tendency to rheumatism.
which had to be nipped in the bud at
Buxton.
Dick had been taken to see great
authority in London about the poor
little inside; it had been feared that
an operation would be necessary, but
the great authority had only pre-
scribed Epson salts. And now all the
younger children had to go to the
dentist to have their teeth filled. 1t
seemed a shame to pay for filling
childrens first teeth that would drop
out in the course of year or so, but
the proper care of the teeth, as every
one knows, is of fundamental i'm
portance to health, and when health
is in question one must not shrink
from sacrifices.
What caused the parents the Sc
yerest perplexity of all was the trou-
BILE about germs. Never was family
more patiently and watchfully guard
ed from germs. The house whenever
an epidemic was about reeked with
disinfectants. Strange fluids were
poured into the water of the child
ren's baths, strange and costly soaps
of antiseptic potency were applied to
their delicate skins.
1t was not to be expected that the
children would be uninterested in
the affairs of their health. They were.
indeed, interested in very little else.
They were sickly, peevish children,
spiritless, and prone to coddling.
with but scanty intelligence. But
in one department of human learning
they were precociously well inform
ed. Their knowledge Of symptoms
was overwhelming; even the young
est would get excited If brother or
sister sneezed, and would make con-
lectures as to what the doctor would
say when he came.
There are SO many temptations
nowadays to hygienic business that
one really requires an unusually
level head to avoid succumbing to
them. Health is important. Every