Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1895 — Dangers of the Dustpan. [ARTICLE]

Dangers of the Dustpan.

To those who know the true inwardness- of things, the sight of a housemaid brushing a dusty carpet Is suggestive of many evils: Tire dentil of Pa stem - has reminded (lie world of thoughts of medical men -namely: that while microbe-organ isms are the great producers of disease, dust is the great carrier of microbe-organisms. Now" that we know these things, now that we understand.that in the quiet hours of the night the germ-laden dust settles down upon the floor, it is distressdug to find how little our knowledge is put to practical use, and to see old customs still unchanged, old habits which we know to be destructive carried on, uml to liud the housemaid on her knees, stirring up dust to the detriment of qvery one, and breathing germladen particles to her own destruction. It needs hilt a small amount of common serose to see that if .carpets must „contintc>—a thing to he, deprecated—they should he rubbed with a damp cloth .lather than brushed, and that if, •in deference to prejudice, they must be brushed. this should he done by -a covered American sweeper, with plenty of damp tea leaves. Of all ways of renio'iing dirt from a carpet, the worst is by the use of the ordinary short brush, which involves the housemaid kneeling down in the midst of the dust which she so. needlessly createSy-and drawing It h to her lungs with every breath. For ordinniy household use something liko linoleum, something which can bo washed with a wet cloth every morning, wouh.l seem to be the best covering for floors; but if carpets must he, and if it is impossible to teach tliepfesent generation the evils of seeking present comfort at the expense of future risks, at least let us remember that carpets may be washed ever where they lie; that,'till the day of washing comes, a closed sweeper is far better than a brush and that the worst form of brush is one with a short handle.— Hritish-Hcdlcair'd-onrnal