[Illustration: FIG. 58. Flies crawling on the edge of the glass or falling into the milk leave germs that cause disease.] [Sidenote: How typhoid germs get into milk] That is how you got the fever; but the trouble did not stop with you. When you fell sick, your father thought it was time to clean the yard, but he was not very careful what he did with the dirt, including the typhoid fever discharges which the nurse threw out on the snow during the winter. There was a low place in the barnyard and there he dumped the dirt. One of the cows thought this fresh pile of dirt would make a comfortable place to lie down in. The next morning the milkman milked her without first washing her sides and udder, and hundreds of little particles of dirt, each one loaded with germs, fell into the milk. The milk from all the cows was mixed together, and by the time it got to town these germs had grown into many thousands. Some of the people who drank the milk became ill with typhoid fever and wondered afterward where they had taken this disease. [Sidenote: Why the recovered patient is dangerous] The discharges from a typhoid fever patient contain typhoid germs not only while the disease lasts, but for many months after the patient is well. In some cases they are present for years after the illness is over. [Sidenote: The story of the careless nurses] Here is a story about typhoid fever that illustrates the importance of washing and boiling everything that comes from a sickroom. A few years ago there was an epidemic of typhoid fever in a certain town. One of the hospitals was very much crowded, and it became necessary to employ several extra nurses. All the nurses knew the importance of washing their hands after handling the patients, and the old nurses had seen so many bad results from failure to observe this rule that they were very careful. Three of the new nurses, however, thought it a great deal of trouble to be washing their hands all the time, so more and more they neglected this important duty. The result was that all three of these girls got typhoid fever and died. They paid the penalty for neglecting the duty that they well knew they should have performed. Typhoid fever can be wiped out by attention to neglected details--that is, by disinfecting discharges before throwing them away; by disposing of excretions only in places that are made for them; by adding lime to the closet vault every day to kill any germs present; by making the closet in such a way that flies cannot get into it; and by not permitting sewage to enter any stream until all the disease germs have been killed. All these things can be done. It will require a little work; but had you not rather take a little extra care than run the risk of catching or spreading typhoid fever?