While people know that they ought to pay attention to these things, as a matter of fact they do not do it. They take very little interest in the way the meat that they are to eat is handled, and very few ever go to the slaughterhouse or into the back room of the butcher shop to see whether things are kept clean or not. Some people say, "Oh, we do not like to go there because it is such a horrid place." If these places were kept clean, as they should be, they would not be "horrid." And if the people who buy the meat would occasionally visit them, these places would be kept clean. [Illustration: FIG. 10. Properly displayed foods, protected from handling and from dirt and flies.] If the slaughterhouse and the butcher shop where your meats are handled are not kept clean, the meat is sure to have germs growing in it, and these germs will cause poisons called _ptomaines_ to form in the meat. There may not be enough of them to make you sick, but there will be enough to injure some of the cells of your body, and to deprive you of much of the nourishment that you would otherwise get from the meat. All boys and girls should belong to a "Clean Meat League" and should try to persuade their parents not to buy meat from any butcher who does not keep his slaughterhouse and butcher shop clean. [Sidenote: Dangers from diseased meat] Sometimes butchers are anxious to make money fast and take little thought for the number of people they may make ill. They can buy sick cows very much cheaper than well ones. The meat from a sick cow looks just like the meat from a healthy cow, and the dishonest butcher sells both at the same price. The meat from the diseased cow is not suitable for food. It may cause you to have the same disease that the cow had, or it may only be changed to such an extent that it will not give you the nourishment that you should get from good meat. The butcher who sells you meat from a sick cow is of course dishonest. [Illustration: FIG. 11. Improperly displayed foods, exposed to handling and to dirt and flies.] [Sidenote: How to prevent the sale of diseased meats] Ask your father to visit the slaughterhouse where your meat is killed. The only thing you need to do is to persuade him to go and see whether the cattle are sick or not. If the cattle look sick, you will not have to ask him not to buy the meat. No person should ever eat meat that comes from a diseased animal, no matter what the nature of the sickness may be. People who will take the trouble to visit the slaughterhouses occasionally, to investigate these things for themselves, will not have such meat offered them. [Sidenote: Importance of giving animals clean food]