CHAPTER IX 



DUST AND CLEANLINESS 



When the wind blows, clouds of dust whirl down the 

 street, and it seems as if you could hardly draw your 

 breath. 



You turn your head away, press your lips together, 

 and try not to breathe much, even through your nose ; 

 yet, in spite of all that, so much dust is in your mouth 

 that you almost taste it, and so much is in your eyes that 

 they ache and grow red. Tears run down your cheeks 

 even though you are not crying. You cough and use 

 your handkerchief, and after you reach home you may 

 feel as if you had caught a hard cold. 



There is reason for this, for many kinds of dust have 

 edges and corners and rough sides. A speck of coal 

 dust from the engine really scratches the delicate inside 

 skin of the eye with its corners, though the hands and 

 face cannot feel them. As for the lungs, they are so 

 much more delicate that even ordinary dust in an 

 ordinary home is bad for them. 



If you want to know whether or not there is dust in 

 the air you are breathing, look at a band of sunshine as 



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