54 



other plants appeared, includiDg a wild fig. Still further down came a 

 small patch (one cannot say a field) of Lupines; probably that is the only 

 cultivated plant that is able to thrive in the cinders. Next came a small 

 vineyard and the cottage of a fainily. These people, like the plants on the 

 slopes of the volcano, are in constant danger of being overwhelmed. Small 

 plants are, of course, in danger on account of clouds of cinder dust, the 

 wind at times being terrific. 



All this came to mind vividly while standing at the cinder covered 

 railway embankment. Then I mentally retraced my steps down to the 

 river and to the i^lants that lead a precarious existence and are constantly 

 threatened by high water. Then I thought of the people who live on the 

 river front and especially on the little island, who, once or twice a year, 

 are in danger of floods. Occasionally some must be rescued in boats. 

 These, too, are reckless ; prudent people likely would not be found under 

 such surroundings. We all know how large cities with a river front are 

 infested, by a class of people known as "river rats," a highly undesirable 

 class ; human weeds, so to speak. When botanizing, we are frequently 

 asked, What is tlie plant good for? One may also ask. What are weeds good 

 for? Shall we also ask, What are some human weeds good for? 



Continuing, I retraced my steps to the railway shops and the smoke. I 

 recalled the sad-eyed women and sickly-looking children who exist in that 

 atmosphere. The men, of course, are employed in the shops and I won 

 dered how long they are able to hold out. It is well known that the city 

 "takes it out" of strong and robust men — they sooii fail. Large industrial 

 cities have little use for a man after the age of about forty or forty-five. 

 Now I knew that smoky air about the shops killed the trees and that only a 

 few weeds were able to grow, and I wondered how long human life itself is 

 able to endure under such conditions. Trees being fixed to the soil, live and 

 die in situ; human beings are not fixed to the soil and so when they fall 

 sick they generally remove to another neighborhood. If they are unable, 

 on account of sickness, to pay the house rent, they are evicted and others 

 move in. People removing from an unsanitary environment may regain 

 health and perhaps again become self-supporting, but only too often they 

 continue to fail and many die ]ireiiuiturely and the children liecome public 

 charges. Who is to bo l)lamed fur premature deaths? 



I further retraced my steps to Shanty Town. I recalled how the uews- 

 jinpers had freciuent accounts of the prevalence of typhoid fever in that 



