The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-07-07
Clean Up Campaign
Discussed

Tell me what you do with your
rubbish" said the fireman, "and III
tell you what sort of citizen you are.
If you dispose carefully OF every bit
OF your broken furniture, all your
old newspapers, your old oily rags,
your worn-Ont clothing. and all rub
blsh Of that kind, you are a good
citizen. but if you allow them to ac-
cnmulate, you are not only bad citi-
zen but a menace to your neighbOrs.
What makes such things catch
hrc? 1t may be the heat from the fur
mace. a spark from cigarette, a can
die dropped by some one, the torch
Iof plumber.-sometim they are
very careless fellows these plumbers
I--or perhaps, they just catch fire from
what Is called spontaneous combus-
| ton"
| You don't know what spontaneous
combustion is? 1t is a fire that starts
itself! 1t has been discovered that
Tcotton waste. oily rags, moist hay and
certain other things. II left to them
selves. will grow hotter and hotter and
FINALLY burst into flame. There was
once nice new church that was de-
stroyed in that very way. 1t had just
been completed, and on the afternoon
lbefore the first service, some of the
Eladies of the congregation wiped the
woodwork with oily cloths. When
they had finished and were going
home, one OF them suggested that it
! was pity to throw away
the new busters, and accord.
ingly they were put into a closes
for lsafekeeping. In the night the
church was entirely destroyed by FIRE.
The cloths in the closet had caught
fire by spontaneous combustion. A
painter 1 once heard of was up on D.
ladder painting house; he used
clothslto wipe the turpentine from his
hands. After he had done this a num-
Der Of times each time putting the
rags back into his pocket. the pocket
suddenly caught fire, and he was bad
| ly burned before he could get down
to the ground. .>,...,-E ....-
so remember that if you don't burn
your rubbish it may suddenly start
in the middle of the night.
DO you see that beautiful house
across the way? It's lawns are rolled
and ,ciipped its flower beds are care
fully tended. its gravel paths are
smooth, 1t has rosebush over the
door and bright Colored awnings at
I3very window. and yet that house is
more dangerous than German aero
plane dropping bombs. had occasion
to make an inspection there one day,
and this is what found:
o. I'm the cellar and also, under that
piazza, are the barrels and packing
boxes that were used when the fam
ily moved in. also. the excelsior that
came. around the new parlor clock. %
few old chairs and, tables, a disabled
rocking horse and several boxes of
magazines. In the garret there are
any number of old straw hats, two
or three broken mattresses. "a lot of
old clothes hanging on hooks, two
trunks full of old letters. and l forget
what else On the second floor L
| round that he good lady of house
was Keeping all her light summer
dresses in closet which had a steam
pipe passing through 1t. Now. il you
Will look at that house again. you will
see that whoever raked the lawn has
piled up a big mound of leaves near
the steps of the side door and has
gone away. Even dead leaves some
times take fire from spontaneous COM
bustion. DO you wonder that every
time the gong rings i'm the engine
house think Of this building? know
that when it burns, the whole block
may burn with ii, if there is strong
wind. and then people will blame the
lire department for not being more
efficient.
"Ob, YOU live ncxt door, do you?