No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 173 



do." Sometimes we wonder whether the message finds readers. I 

 have wondered about this, perhaps more than you have, and yet, 

 sometimes where we least think, the message will go home. I at- 

 tended a Farmers' Institute, and one of the things we talked about 

 was the home, how to take care of it, how to disinfect it, how to 

 take care of the handkerchiefs, and that sort of thing. I went there 

 again, afterwards, and one of the women came to me and said "I want 

 to thank you for that talk you gave us before on how to take care 

 of the handkerchiefs, and the care in the little things; I have fol- 

 lowed it, and I have saved dollars." So I believe it is a simple mat- 

 ter to go on and say just the same things over and over again. 



It is just a little fly in mid-winter. About the middle of February 

 there comes one of those nice, spring-like days, and the little fly comes 

 out and you think no more of it. It lives until April 15th, and here 

 you see the result: 



April 15th, 1 fly 



May 1st 120 



May 2Sth, 7,200 



June 20th 423,000 



July 10th, 25,920,000 



July 29th, 1,555,200,000 



August ISth, 93,312,000,000 



September 10th, 5,598,720,000,000 



This table is taken from the report of the Pure Food Commis- 

 sioner. I will not go into details, because you will not remember the 

 figures. Had we not better have killed that little fly on April 15th? 

 It is necessary not only for you and for me to kill this little fly, 

 but it is necessary for every one in the community to do so if we 

 want the community to be free from the danger of infection. 



You and I believe that there is nothing in the world quite so 

 important as life, and how we guard life, and how we take care of 

 everything that will harm it. It is a serious thing when death comes 

 into the house, and yet, do you know, within the last two weeks I 

 have wondered if we value life as we should. Within the last two 

 weeks T visited the Philadelphia Baby Show every time I went 

 through the city. One of the things they showed was a light that 

 flashed and went out, and every time that light flashes a baby dies — 

 and I wonder- — I wonder There was a picture shown there; a fly 

 came from a tuberculosis house across the way, through an un- 

 screened windov/ where a baby sat. He lit on the baby's bottle, and 

 contaminated his milk. This morning on coming here from Phila- 

 delphia, I could not resist the temptation, and went in again. I 

 said to one of the men in attendance, "How often does this liyht 

 flash?" He said, "Every ten seconds, and every time it flashes, a 

 baby dies" — and then he added, as he figured it out — "not in Phila- 

 delphia alone, but in the whole United States." 



These little things! The flies are only little things, but they do 

 a great deal of harm, and as we go through life, we will find that it 

 is by looking after the little things that we accomplish t!ie great ones, 

 that win the "well done." 



