"And this good old Quaker state," replied the Doctor, "consecrated by the good old saint, William Penn, exceeds all others in Independence Day accidents, and this town appears to be the storm center of the whole. The gentle '_Friends_' he left to carry on his work must be asleep and the fierce spirit of the '_Lord's Committee of Colonies_' must be awake and armed with the explosives which he tabooed with such good effect. The cases of _tetanus_ I had here last year nearly drove me mad. I wanted to throw anti-toxin to the winds and turn mayor or missionary myself and take this beastly and idiotic custom by the horns. Call it patriotism! It's bad enough to bring children into this dirty world, but to furnish them with instruments to introduce the worst kind of dirt--the baccili of _tetanus_ into their sweet young flesh is deviltry or insanity, at least. It's of no consequence so far as results go whether the wads in the blank cartridge are _boiled_ or not. It is a fiend incarnate. No instrument could be more cunningly devised for the injection of poison into the human system. The flat head is like the head of a serpent. The small boy gives it a starter. It hisses and carries everything before it--pieces of flesh or clothing, soiled or unsoiled, but usually soiled. It buries and burns them deep in the flesh. The gash shuts up and they are left to fester there. Mien Gott! These are the things that are invented, manufactured and sold for innocent boys to play the deadly game of patriotism with. They are good for no other thing--they nor the toy pistol; and the wretch who invented them ought to be put into a house of correction and be kept there and preached to until he learns to set his wits at better things. The people ought to see to these matters. There are laws and laws shut up in your statute books. They want the spirit of flame put into them and the spirit of enforcement back of them." "I was advised when I first came to this country, to take lessons in American patriotism. Mien Gott! The lesson I have learned is that missionaries are needed in all the fields around about. I should say let Miss Ruth turn missionary--that is, if she has no longer a fear of that dreadful work." "Her fear of going away seems to be greater than the fear of the Fourth itself," said Mrs. Cornwallis. "That's the perplexing thing about it. That's why we doubt the expediency of going at all. Whether the evil we fly to is greater than the evil we fly from, is the question. She is all we have left and we have been so very, very careful--afraid to mention the subject almost."