TWELVE] OUR RIVALS—THE INSECTS 
typhoid fever. The fly nuisance can be greatly re- 
duced by spraying barn walls and even house walls. 
The house fly is the more common agent in spread- 
ing typhoid fever. It breeds in manure piles, and 
these should be disinfected, if allowed to remain at 
all about the house or the barn. 
Science is placing our relation to the pests of life 
in a new light. It seems now to be certain that 
we shall be able to master all those ills which we 
used to class under the head of Providences. It 
becomes a social and moral duty to do our full 
share in suppressing the foes of health. Any ani- 
mal that breeds disease, or carries it, fails to have 
any claim on our good will. Science has no nobler 
end than this practical one of destroying the sources 
of contagion and infection. A country home that, 
by defective sewerage, or by slop holes, or by 
sloughs, or puddles of standing water, affords 
breeding places for social plagues, is a nuisance. 
We can, with so little difficulty, prevent the mos- 
quito from propagating on our property, that if we 
do not we justly deserve the punishment that na- 
ture metes out, in the way of fevers and linger- 
ing misery. Fill up your mud holes, clean out your 
stagnant pools, drain your swampy acres, empty 
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