Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 39, Number 302, 30 October 1914 — Page 6

The Palladium's Short Story

Page

Using Babies as a City's Beat Advertisement

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The Country-Wide Campaign to "Boost" Municipalities by Showing How They Can Be Made Safest for the Children. By S. Josephine Baker, M. D.t Director of the Bureau of Child Hygiene. Department of Health, City of New York. THE country-wide campaign for "better for any community is now believed to be its babies" has taken a new twist. Cities infant mortality rate. If the rate is low, the engaged in the work of lowering the community must be regarded as a healthful Infant mortality rate are using the results ob- one. If it is high, the community is a dantained to advertise the desirability of the gerous one home-town. It is being pointed out that a VUule all the Inhabitants of a city, old as uuim iuii. i. t i ioW well as young, are affected adversely by uncity where the infant mortality rate Is low sanitary conditions, they react most severely Is a good city to live in ,.nM.PRUne afl most noticeably among Infants under one In Chicago the work has been VW year of age. That is why the infant mortality rapid y The infant J? rate of a city may be regarded as an index to ily diminished. In Philadelphia Boston De- commun ty's sanitary status, troit. St. Louis. Cleveland. Buffalo and Baltl- evident that unless a city is more the fight n behalf of be"er has healthful, its fine buildings and streets, its likewise been prosecuted most orous'y- gchoo, tem an(i ,tB parkg txlrnish small ln. New York perhaps has been most active ducement to either the home-seeker or to the ot al' . , , , , . . . ot business man. It is essential, then, to emphaTo boost New York B babies, and by boost- gize & community.8 sanitary excellence, and ing the babies to boost New York the Uiam- because that can best be shown by reference her or Commerce, the Merchants Association. (f) jtg infant mortality rate New York's comthe Advertising Men's League and other orga- mercial organizations have combined in an efnizations have combined to celebrate what is for to reduce the local rate. known as Baby Week. It began yesterday. Ag u .g New York stands second among the Just why these commercial organizations ten ldrgest cities in the country. The last figshould interest themselves in babies will not ures obtainable give the following result: perhaps be apparent at first blush. That is . because it is not yet generally understood that St. Louis J j the desirability of a city is In inverse ratio to New ork 101 J its Infant mortality rate. ??,to? , V-11 ' Local boards of trade and similar organlza- Philadelphia lions, in conducting a campaign to boost the Chicago home town, have hitherto enlarged upon Us Pittsburgh broad avenues, Its schools, its churches, its Lro,U hospitals, its parks, but not a word has been 17 said as to its infant mortality rate. Cleveland This Is a mistake. The best "talking-point" Baltimore 1W"

The figures given show the death rate per thousand. While New York stands second, it must be taken into consideration that conditions in the metropolis are without any question much more difficult to contend with than those encountered in any other city in the list But despite the obstacles, every organization in New York which is Interested in baby welfare is determined that New York shall be first in respect to a low infant mortality rate. It is believed that nothing that could be said in New York's favor would prove as effective in a campaign to boost the city as the slogan "New York's baby death-rate is the lowest in the land!" That is why all hands have joined to accomplish the task of placing New York at the very top of the list. Unless I am very much mistaken, it will be done before the end of the year. The work of lowering the infant death rate in New York has been handled principally in the past six years by an organization known as the Babies' Welfare Association. This association is really nothing more than a federation of kindred associations, all having for their object the welfare of infants. Much has been accomplished. Prom a rate of 162 per thousand in 1904 the figures have been brought down to 101.9 per thousand in 1913. By increasing its efforts in every direction, tlie association expects to bring the rate well below the 100 mark before the end of the year. Generally speaking, the aim of the association is to teach mothers how to keep their babies well, rather than to cure them after they have become sick. To accomplish this it is necessary to overcome the fears and prejudices of the ignorant, to awaken the interest and sense of duty or the indifferent, lazy or vicious, and to extend material help in the shape of medicines, food and clothing to the poverty-stricken. When the New York Health Department organized its Division of Child Hygiene in 1908. 141 nurses were employed to instruct mothers in proper baby care, not only during the Summer months, but also in connection with their school duties during the early Spring. Visits were then made to these homes, anil the mothers instructed by the nurses as to tho proper hygienic care of the baby, including detailed demonstrations of the care and prepara

tion of milk for Infant feeding, after all efforts and means had failed to have the mother feed the child. Every effort was made to keep the. baby well. All cases of illness were immediately reported to the department, and a medical inspector was at once sent to care for the baby. This system was greatly Improved upon, however, in 1911, when the division was enabled to treat infant mortality as a year-round problem by the establishment of fifteen milk stations. There are now fifty-five of these stations under the supervision of the Department of Child Hygiene. With the new equipment, districts showing excessive infant mortality and high birth rates were selected and nurses concentrated in them. Each nurse is supplied with 150 names ot babies taken from reported births, and the nurse's list is constantly kept up to that number. It is the nurse's duty to instruct the mothers of the 150 babies exactly how to bring up the infants. Circulars of instruction ar9 distributed at the first visit, and each mother must be visited at least every ten days. If the baby is delicate or sick more frequent visits must be made. Proper medical attention must be secured in every case where it is indicated. The infants' milk stations comprise one of the chief weapons in the hands of the authorities in their campaign against infant mortality. These stations have been located after a critical and exhaustive study of locality needs, and they are regarded as headquarters for the army of babies dwelling in the district. Not only is milk supplied at these stations, but conferences between the nurses and directors and between the nurses and mothers are held there, and medical examinations and treatments are conducted there. The object of all this work is to keep the well baby well and to prevent illness rather than to attempt to cure it after it has occurred. Preventive educational public health work is more successful in paving babies than in almost any other direction. .. Almost of equal importance with the milk staions are the Little Mothers' Leagues, which were first organized in 1309, and have been conducted with increasing success ever since. They have been copied in many cities. In congested parts of the city it is the custom 10 place tile care of the baby in the hands of tho older girl in the family. Sometimes the "older" girl may not be more than six years

"old" herself, and very little can be expected of a child ot that age unless she be properly instructed in her duties. However well-intentioned these little mothers may be. It Is provable that many Infant lives are needlessly sacrificed each year owing to this lack of proper care. Believing that, if properly Instructed, these girls might be an aid of the utmost importance in saving lives, the department bad inspectors give lectures in some of the public schools in the Spring of 1908 on "The Care of Babies." In 1909 the scheme was elaborated and inspectors of the Division of Child Hygiene delivered, during the month of May, a lecture on infant mortality and baby care in each public school of the city. At the close of the lecture the girls over twelve years of age were asked to volunteer as aids of the Department of Health in its baby-saving campaign. Each girl who signified her desire to Join was given a certificate of membership. Little

Mothers' Leagues were thus formed in each, school where the need was evident. Weekly meetings were held of each league, the inspec

tor and nurse acting as honorary president and vice-president, while the members elected a president and secretary from their own numbers. After attendance at six meetings the department furnished each member with a silvered badge, a special gilt one being given to the president. These leagues have been organized and maintained since their inception with increasing euccess. There is no doubt that the instruction of these "little mothers" has an immense po? tential value. ( While milk stations and Little Mothers Leagues have done an enormous amount of good, the work of Instructing mothers to keep their babies well must be extended if the death rate is to be appreciably lowered. We believe that publicity is one of the most valuable factors in this campaign, and that la why Baby Week was conceived. It is earnestly hoped that New Yorkers will realize the great importance of reducing the infant mortality rate by keeping the city clean and sanitary. A low mortality rate means a healthful city, and a healthful city means a prosperous one. New York ought to be the most healthful city in the world, despite the fact that its health problems are among the greatest. With the proper support from Its citizens it will be.

THE SNAKE GOD

By

Stacy Blake

WELL, it's a queer taste to care about snakes, sir," said Captain Christmas conversationally. "The only men I've known who had 'em generally tried 10 gut rid of 'em mighty quick. They generally used to have pink rats and blue frogs with 'em as well. Still, I suppose you know your own trade best, and I guess you've got your markets." The German naturalist agreed on both points. "if we were all in der same trade, captain, bisness would be a bit crowded. I'm for a Hamburg firm. We want rare snakes. Dere was some private collections that take any amount of goot specimens. And dere is always der national collections. I am after a new snake that is said to exist in Papua." "Is that so, professor? Well you will get plenty of chance to go ashore and dip your fingers into the grass, because 1 shall be trading in most places along that coast for days at a time. 1 don't know any snakes there, but the natives are a pretty tough sort ol proposition? you can take my word for it. and if the tiiakjs are anything in the same line jou'll have some sport." "No, not sport. For sport I do not care. Bisness with me it is." "Same here." said Christmas, pushing his pouch across the table. "Try that chop in your pipe. There's tlavor in ii that will make the roof di your mouth jump with joy. As I was saying, I'm a shop-keeper myself all the time. Some people imagine there's a kind of sport in clawing round the world from one blessed port to another, but give me u little place in the country where ou can hear the pigs grunting and can go and pick a rasping good aple to eat before breakfast. "These palm trees and blue skies ire all right in pictures, and someimes its convenient to be able to spend the day in pajamas if your ilop chest is in pawn, which the cliaiate at home won't allow; but give me a decent black fog or two, when you can sit up against a fire and have buttered muffins for tea. Oh. yes, 1 shall get that homey feeling if I go on talking. Well, I'm weighing out of here to-night, mister snake merchant, so you can get your hampers aboard and 1 11 have 'em stowed on deck amidships so you can just slip your snakes into 'em as you catch 'em." It was getting on towards six o'c'.ock in Takia. The red sun was hanging above the rim of golden sea. On the beach street the stores were closed. The parrakeets chaffered among the trees where the red flowers flung back the colors of the setting sun. Native dandies, oiled, and decorated with tropical flowers, padded along the white sand of the street, and girls In tunics of frenzied colors wandered about with laughter

and song. Christmas filled his pipe as he sat on the green-shuttered veranda of the beach tavern, kept by an amiable Chinaman known as Henry, and he watched the German naturalist walk away down the soft white road to his lodgings. The smell of cooking came to his nostrils, of yam and bread-fruit and fish fresh from the baking holes. Lights twinkled here and there. The palm trees grew feathery against the saffron sky. Out in the land-locked bay a few craft lay at anchor like ships on a burnished mirror of gold. "Rotten!" murmured John Christmas. "Give me the soupy color of the Thames at Woolwich or a tasty fog just below the Tower Bridge. By ginger! fancy coming down to this!" His schooner, the Island Queen, lay among half a dozen similar craf: mirrored in the bay of gold. He was out trading, picking up copra gums anything that the islands or the coasts of New Guinea offered, and giving goods in exchange. He had not done ill, as trade went, but he loathed it. He was a steamer captain. To be running a huckstering schooner hurt his dignity when ne thought about it. He had wandered into the trade because he had found himself on the water-side at Brisbane without a job, following his taking out a vessel purchased in Liverpool for th3 Australian coasting trade. A passage home had been in the bargain, but he had sold that and added the proceeds to the available capital under his belt and invested it on trade goods. The table d'hote was being served in the veranda. He ate of chicken and taro stewed with cocoanut cream When he had eaten, he went aboard and waited for Hermann, the naturalist. A boat came off presently, piled high with hampers. "Der ones that are already filled I've put on her top, captain," said Hermann. "Dose fellows must not be mixed up with der others." "What, you've got some already?" "Some lizards and t'ings. That's what I've been here for. So!" "All right. I'll leave the stowing to you. But keep the hampers fast I'm not great on reptiles." The Island Queen slipped out in the light of a big moon, rose at the bar and dipped her nose in the creamy smother, and then she went eastward and north, with a beam wind setting her aslant. "There are funny ways of getting money in the world," said Christmas, as they smoked on deck that night. "Now, fancy collecting snakes and things as a trade. It seems to me there must be a lot of risk in proportion to the pay in that job." "Yes; well, not risk, no, not when you can handle them. But the pay is not a gold mine. But I look out always for what I can find. I picked up an orchid once that was worth a touzand pounds."

"By ginger!" "Yes, der life has its chances." .Days and nights followed, days of sunlight and nights of silver. Then a fringe of palm came up over the horizon, and the blue ocean ended in a smother of white along the foot o! a shore of yellow sand. "Here's our coast," said Christmas. "We'll be alongside our fir-st trading ground by midday. Here's to plenty of trade for me and plenty of snakes for you. I suppose you know your own trade, but the niggers here are a poisonous lot, and you have to keep the eyes in your head open." The German was confident. He had no lack of courage. "I can get der respect of any of them when they once see me catch snakes," he said. Christmas traded busily on the beach for three days, and during that period Hermann, who had disappeared a few hours after touching shore with many empty hampers like a nest of basins, one fitting inside another, remained ashore all the time. At the end of the last day, when Christinas had scooped up all the copra and shell that could be had, and left in its stead calico, mirrors, beads and other essentials of life on this coast, Hermann appeared on the beach with a dozen natives carrying his hampers. These were got aboard and it was easy to see that the naturalist was much respected. "Yah, I could be a chief if there I stayed," he said. "They t'ink it magic, the way I handle snakes." So they crept along the coast of the great island, touching at many trading points, and by the time the great lagoon of Biku lay abeam the holds of the Island Queen were neavy with the products of the coast and the hampers on deck bulged with the reptiles of the jungles. "I'll finish here," Christmas said. "Biku village is a goodish spot for trade. And you'll not have not much hamper room to fill, professor. I'd like to go inland with you a bit to see you put your salt on the snakes' tails, but I daren't leave the ship. I'd have a crowd aboard if I went for half an hour's walk, and they'd start pulling the nails out of tho timbers when they'd skinned everything else. No, I'm sitting on my merchandise this trip till I land it safe in Brisbane." The first night after the arrival off Biku Hermann came aboard with his day's bag. "I ashore do not sleep," he said. "I like the natives not." "They have a ready way of handling those stone clubs, I'll not deny;" said Christmas, "and I'll bet those spears can be used for something else besides spiking fish on. For my own part I'm not running risks; I can't with a fat cargo like this under my planks. I don't go ashore without a pistol in my silk-handkerchief pocket. Did you get a good

haul to-day?" "To-day, a little, yes; but I have seen something else." The German pulled hard at his pipe. There was a queer glitter in his eyes. "There's a fortune, captain, up there iu a palm grove waiting for some one with a bcld hand to collar it." Christmas opened his eyes. He perceived that Hermann had been engaged upon a more absorbing subject than snakes. "I'm interested in fortunes, professor," he said. "I've let more slip through my hands than any man living. Only I'm a bit sceptical. A bag doesn't always contain what's written on the label. What have you found snakes with gold teeth?" "Captain, you joke. But you aren't a long way out. It's a snake with diamond eyes a wooden snake. Himmel! Her eyes are diamonds as big as pigeons' eggs. It's a sort of sacred t'ing a god ach! Ugly as wickedness, and it's in a thatchroofed temple in a palm grove way up der valley." "I dunno. I'm in the peace trade, professor, and if you collar those stones, the next white men who come along will have to pay for it, you can bet." "Captain, I haf been struggling all my life. I've got a wife and children in Hamburg. I can never send them enough. This is a chance that any man would be a fool to miss, and other people who come here can take care of themselves. Who cares for me? Ach, nobody! See, my family is in a bad little house in Hamburg, where there is no light. Who shall care for them? With money, I shall take them to where is life and light. My son, he shall go to school. And me I shall study." "That's all right, professor. By ginger, your proposition sounds tempting. But I'm not going to advise you. I've got a safe and quietlife feeling on me. I needn't tell you that you'll be running risks in jugsfull. They'll be sure to keep a watch on that snake thing with the eyes. If you happen to get collared, your end would be scrappy." "When do you finish here, captain?" "The last load of copra will be on the beach to-morrow afternoon. I shall clear out at night?" "No; I'm not going to encourage you. I'm not going to wait to help you to get yourself into mischief. The job is outside your weight. It's a million to one you'll get brained before you've got the pebbles in your hand, and even if you miss that they'll nab you in the bush. No, professor; you may be a daisy snakehandler, but you take my tip and keep off that job." "You want the job for yourself, perhaps!" exclaimed Hermann thickly. "You are excited, professor, so I'll refuse to be insulted. But I sha'n't go farther than the beach to-morrow.

and I get under way in the evening at eight. Don't you forget that." Christmas filled up his holds the following day. By the end of the hot afternoon lie began to batten down. The piled-up hampers on the main deck, each with its loathsome tenant or tenants had to be lashed down. "They ought to have a tarpaulin

over them as well.

ancy," Christ

mas said to the mate. "If we get into a blow outside and start shipping seas, the salt water might do the beauties a bit of no good. But we'll wait till the professor comes. He'll have a few more to pack in, I expect." "I wonder if the fool has scrapped my good advice?" he said to himself "If he's in the market for those snake's, I can see trouble ahead. He grew more uneasy as the time passed with still no sign of the German. Within half an hour of sailing time, he took the boat that lay hitched to the fore-chains, and with the mate and a couple of native deck-hands rowed slowly towards tha beach. Christmas stood up in the boat and watched, rifle in hand. Ho read alarm in the noise. The noise persisted the booming of drums and yelling of voices till it seemed that the whole savage community raged in and about tho scrub beyond xh P-. beach. Christmas listened till his' nerves grew raw. H9 imagined things. His fingers began to itch on tho stock of his gun, and his sinews tightened with the desire for action. He was balanced between the impulse to go forward to the beach and the knowledge that prudence should keep him where he was, when his decision was made for him by a whitegarbed figure bursting out from the trees, and running with swift, crunching steps across the beach. "Hallo! here you are quick!" Christmas shouted out, yet not too loudly. .' Hermann dashed into the sea. He could not speak. His breath was sobbing out like an overtaxed forcepump. He staggered as though wounded, or in the last stage of exhaustion. He could hardly force his way through the impeding water. There was a fierce, hoarse shouting behind him. Natives with stone clu'33 in their hands splashed into the water after him. They could not have failed to catch the fugitive, but Christmas shot the leading man through the shoulder. He dropped his weapon with a yell, and the others at his heels stopped. "I suppose you've been after those bits of glass," be said grimly to Hermann. "This is the result They'll get canoes launched directly, and we'll have the whole tribe of them bellowing round the ship. And we shall be on toast, for there's not a breath of wind to shift us." Hermann gasped. His throat rattled. He seemed to have run till

his lungs had burst "By the way, did you collar the stones after all?" asked Christmas, In little jerks, as he pulled at his oars. A queer noise came from Hermann, lie held out a hand with two little egg-shaped objects in the palm. And then they suddenly fell out of his hand with a rattling sound into the bottom of the boat, and he sagged sideways with a groan and a loud breathing noise. The stones fell at Christmas's feet. He saw them there little shining objects as big as walnuts. He picked them up. Then a grey look on the German's face caused Christmas to slip the precious stones into his own pocket Hermann appeared to have fainted. When they got to the ship's side and started to lift him aboard, they found he was dead. A broken-off arrow was sticking in his side. "He's paid his whack already," Christmas said. "But we've not paid ours. Listen to their paddles. We'll have them butting in on us directly. It wasn't worth it, for those measly pebbles." "Have you got 'em, sir?" asked the mate. "They're in my pocket." "Gad, they'll be worth some fortunes," the mate said, with eyes glittering. "All the better for Hermann's family in Hamburg if we get out of the mess. Now, hurry, by ginger, or we'll be shark-meat quicker than you can count ten!'' "You've got to fight," he said, "or I'll shoot every man where he stands. And no overboard tricks, for there are sharks round the ship." But he put no trust in his natives as a fighting force. There remained his two white mates. He gave the canoes a shot when they were fifty yards away. A shower of arrows plattered on the ship. He waited till they were nearer, then shot with considerable accuracy. And his matas did likewise to the best of their skill. But it was like shooting odd bees in a swarm. There must have been half a dozen canoes, each with eight O'- ten men aboard. They hung back a little under Christmas's fire, then one canoe crew attempted to board. Christmas and his two mates drove them back with bullet and iron belaying pin. The native crew had meantime thoughtfully stampeded into the forecastle, and were engaged in barricading the entrance. "They'll rush us directly," said Christmas, In a moment of breathingtime. "They'll trample us down with sheer weight. The after deck-house must be our fort!" "And they'll break that down at the finish, sir," said the second mate. "That door isn't very strong." "At the finish, yes unless oh, good saints! why didn't I think of it before? Give me your shooters, both of you, and take your knives and cut the fastening ot those snakehampers as many as you can. Then

turn them upside down sling the creatures out set the whole crawling mass whipping round the deck If yos can. Then we'll go Into the deckhouse! "We've set free a good many!" panted the mate, "and we've had a pretty near go ourselves from the critters. A good lot we didnt turn out, but we cut the fastenings and lifted the lids, and the beggarsH find their way out jolly soon. Oh, lor! there'll be some fun when the niggers start stepping among 'em with bare feet!" There was a frightful hullaballoo on deck. The Papuan does not fight quietly. There was a noise of pattering feet, followed by fierce cries ot defiance. Through the ports of the deck-house the three whites could see the black bodies swarming over the bulwarks and about the decks. And then, all at once, there was a cry not of defiance, but of terror. It was a shriek, piercing and shrill, that rose above the war-cries. They saw a Papuan leap high in the air from the deck and catch hold of a boom overhead. He pulled himself up to escape something. And then he clung, shrieking. And his cries were a moment later echoed in other places. There was a pause in the attack. The tide of the assault suddenly turned. The main dack was a mass of whirling serpents. "Luck!" said Christmas, as the canoes were left darkly astern. "Absolute luck, this wind. Now we've got a fine clearing-up on the main deck." "That's an idea. You'd better do it between you while I take the wheel. It won't do for any of the crew to come out yet. Besides, I don't want any of them to die of snake-bite, because I owe each of 'em a handling. Afterwards there's poor Hermann to read a service over." The snakes that roamed the main deck were chilled with sea-water and , then despatched with an axe. No ', one would risk handling them. Then the crew was let out, and Christmas went below to examine the diamonds that had cost poor Hermann his life. He took the mate below with him. and the pair looked at the glittering things underneath the light of the cabin-lamp. Christmas frowned, and held them to the light He was not Impressed. They seemed poor thing to give a man's life for. "You've dug diamonds, haven't yon?" he said to the mate. "I've tried to; but I know a stont when I see it," answered the mate. "Well, these look like bits of glasi to me." "It's exactly what they are, sirGerman glass. They might be worth a half-penny apiece. You'll be able to scratch 'em with a godo steel point They're rank frauds!" "Then poor Mrs. Hermann In Hamburg won't get anything ln the waj of a fortune. There are the rest o. the snakes. I hope they'll fetch a good price, for her sake."

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