Norwich bulletin., 1919-10-03
EVEN DIRT HAS MANY VIEWPOINTS

Cvvritten Specially For The Bulletln-l
 Yesterday, when a lady whom l had always supposed to be very soIlcltouS about the little details Of personal cleanliness rur out her hand to me; l hesitated in taking it. I've peeh handling potatoes and onions, ana my hands are 100 dirty" l said apologeu- cally-
 Good. honest earth is not dirt she retorted- taking my somewhat s'I-liiE paw nrmly and heartily .,-.
 Do vou know. I've been thinking quite hard-for me-about that re mark. since then We farmers nave always been apologislnG Tor our '-di--v-- hands and our dirty clothes taking ft for granted that the marks Of the soil on them were dirt
 But. are they2
 w. are accustomed to use the words soil ~earrh. dirt as if they were z--- --1zrrs The dirt under on e feet Is a phrase really meaning the earth o- zo-r under foot The dictionary 7~@-7-for Of df-- is ''any foul or filthy =--ts-aure-~ Now. is the whole, pig. round earth on which we live, move and have ofIr tsluE+out of wnicl comes all our susrenance- anlhal ara --ere-a hIe-froul which we may dig dl- amends or anthracite. according 70 le- cz1i-v-5s this big globe really all .aTf--v1 j. e 5s t all something foul pr flthy2
 TIT admit at the outset that # come in -0 dinner after handling c0aI z- day. 1r digging potatoes. or pulllhS onions OF shoVell-uE gravel and Wlpe m hands on rh@ snow white linen ta- r-e cloth -i,e result will be unpleaS- ant rc -1e eye r will be offensive IL would call for the housewife's broom stick 5r anything ever could
 But wc--d ir he "clrt- N onld u De T1-r@ Or would 5C he something es-- =e1-ia-iT as clean =~ the Wnile llhe't rrres themselves. culy of a different ana more disa Sreeahle colort
 When T was q small boy with all small boys large ca-holicity of judg- rne-r regarding things clean or un- clean. sometimes used to get green 5sr grass marks on my rOmpers. which invariably called for a matern- rI rh-d-r=- -E.ut nolGer never. Lo r177- r-r-rer7li,l-a rca- called them dirt or -dlrry- She always described thezn as -S-a5us- -I-lna- at all these grass S-azrs- z-- used -d say Aren't you c0-~=- I was a= long as she felt Sol about -1em. I3u- I also remember that couldn't ~ee. for the life of me why a nice green color. smeared r- --r fran r1uners quite after the style o- -flrur-st" painting. wasn't just 7~ clean
 Certainly. the shining green grass, a= 5- appeared a mauy-Diled and lux rr--0u- =err carpet over the meadows. 0- sweeps upward -n snug fitting GOV rr5-- n-e~ -re bosses of the pasture n=-1= Ee=z mot look dirty to me. this sunny morning as ! turn my eye to- wards l- from my window Nor can make -- zaru a 5f -he ribbon Of hard Hea-e- gravel road which cuts through -ha --ee--r- was really dirty Spots oF =-5rr- black cEI--der-oll which have fr7nro6 f-1u halted automobiles look really -I5-r--- And sp does tha ma nr-e-g raru-yard. corner Of. which i= visible over rhe yard fence Thes no-h e me -he impression of =0-7=-l l5-E .-fnuT and rlLhL-
 We've ar heard -rTear sand snol-- e1 0+ Te- sand is nothing but rock. rulre-5zrT 20 certain degree Of fine ness Gravel is rock more coarsely -rnUr7 a-d soil i- rock moro finely comm lr---aG than ever ga nd But aUI three. gravel sand soil arc from the same source and vary chiefly in their degrees rt -r--d+1E- What is really from other substances rl be "cleau2'
 Right here ! suspect we're getting close -0 rne real siEniGca of what is meant l- dirt" The sand is called "c-eau- when fr is by itself where -r belongs When ir is mixed win clean gravel or clean soil or clean leaves or clean grass or clean corn cones u1clesu- Queer kind of a thing 70 happen we'll admit That two cleans should make dirty doesn't seem reasonable This is not couclu- sfse- however There are several hiuEs-severlI hundreds, sometimes -hiHk-which do not seem reasona hlea and yet are so. This is one of them
 And the explanation lies. apparent