| 183A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Ella W. Peattie.)
Forty cases of scarlet fever and six
deaths are the result of one woman's care-
lessness, so says Dr. Towne. There is a
terrible fact for a woman to face. But
this woman is not exceptional. There are
plenty of other women in the city who,
from thoughtlessness or ignorance, are
laying others open to the danger of in-
curring a disease by which they may lose
their lives. One cannot entertain the idea
that these women are selfish, for such
selfishness would be ghoulish. To imperil
the lives of other women's children, to lay
innocent little ones liable to suffering in
these hot days of summer- surely no
woman is selfish enough for that. Yet the
woman who permits her children to run
the streets, playing with other children,
within a month after recovering from an
attack of scarlet fever or scarlatina does
that very thing.
It is a well known fact that the most viru-
lent scarlet fever may be incurred from
mld scarlatina. The lightness or ma-
lignity of the disease depends as much
upon the condition of the persons who
catch it as upon the nature of the disease
itself. Every woman will remember to
have heard of cases of scarlet fever in
which the child died within a few hours,
contracted by association with children
who were recovering from mild cases of
scarlatina. It is three weeks since they
contracted the disease. Their skin is
still peeling. Yet they are allowed to run
about the street in that neighborhood,
which is thronged with children, and they
have been taken for street car rides. What
if this woman, who would not willingly do
harm to anyone, were to stand beside the
collin holding the child of some friend of
hers and hear that woman [say]:
"This is your work. You did this. You
caused this misery. It is you who have
broken my heart?"
There is nothing exaggerated, forced nor
impossible about this. Such responsibil-
ity is every woman liable to bear who shows
such reprehensible thoughtlessness. If it
be not thoughtlessness, but selfishness,
such a woman would be a criminal.
A little girl in my neighborhood was at-
tacked with a light case of scarlatina last
winter. The neighborhood swarms with
children and it seemed unlikely that they
would escape contagion. But the little
girl was kept in her home for six weeks.
The other children sent her gifts and
friendly messages; he exile, was bright-
ened with [daily] food, toys and flowers.
And when she was released she was en-
tirely recovered in every particular. Not
another child in the neighborhood had the
disease. The disease in that locality was
stamped out by the good sense, firmness
and patience of one woman. She may not
have known it, but the other women of the
neighborhood certainly appreciated her
kindness and endurance- for every mother
knows it is no easy thing to keep a child
housed for six weeks.
Will not the women of Omaha come to a
realization of their responsibilities in this
matter? Can they not practically demon-
strate their good citizenship by reporting
cases of scarlet fever promptly or insist-
ing that physicians make such reports by
keeping the family quarantined and se-
cluding those having the disease till the
skin is whole? Or do they want a record
of death laid to their account? Surely
there is not one who would not shrink
from such a thing. | 183 A WORD
WITH THE WOMEN
(By Ella W. Peattie.)
Forty cases of scarlet fever and six
deaths are the result of one woman's care-
lessness, so says Dr. Towne. There is a
terrible fact for a woman to face. But
this woman is not exceptional. There are
plenty of other women in the city who,
from thoughtlessness or ignorance, are
laying others open to the danger of in-
curring a disease by which they may lose
their lives. One cannot entertain the idea
that these women are selfish, for such
selfishness would be ghoulish. To imperil
the lives of other women's children, to lay
innocent little ones liable to suffering in
these hot days of summer- surely no
woman is selfish enough for that. Yet the
woman who permits her children to run
the streets, playing with other children,
within a month after recovering from an
attack of scarlet fever or scarlatina does
that very thing.
It is a well known fact that the most viru-
lent scarlet fever may be incurred from
mld scarlatina. The lightness or ma-
lignity of the disease depends as much
upon the condition of the persons who
catch it as upon the nature of the disease
itself. Every woman will remember to
have heard of cases of scarlet fever in
which the child died within a few hours,
contracted by association with children
who were recovering from mild cases of
scarlatina. It is three weeks since they
contracted the disease. Their skin is
still peeling. Yet they are allowed to run
about the street in that neighborhood,
which is thronged with children, and they
have been taken for street car rides. What
if this woman, who would not willingly do
harm to anyone, were to stand beside the
collin holding the child of some friend of
hers and hear that woman [say]:
"This is your work. You did this. You
caused this misery. It is you who have
broken my heart?"
There is nothing exaggerated, forced nor
impossible about this. Such responsibil-
ity is every woman liable to bear who shows
such reprehensible thoughtlessness. If it
be not thoughtlessness, but selfishness,
such a woman would be a criminal.
A little girl in my neighborhood was at-
tacked with a light case of scarlatina last
winter. The neighborhood swarms with
children and it seemed unlikely that they
would escape contagion. But the little
girl was kept in her home for six weeks.
The other children sent her gifts and
friendly messages; he exile, was bright-
ened with [daily] food, toys and flowers.
And when she was released she was en-
tirely recovered in every particular. Not
another child in the neighborhood had the
disease. The disease in that locality was
stamped out by the good sense, firmness
and patience of one woman. She may not
have known it, but the other women of the
neighborhood certainly appreciated her
kindness and endurance- for every mother
knows it is no easy thing to keep a child
housed for six weeks.
Will not the women of Omaha come to a
realization of their responsibilities in this
matter? Can they not practically demon-
strate their good citizenship by reporting
cases of scarlet fever promptly or insist-
ing that physicians make such reports by
keeping the family quarantined and se-
cluding those having the disease till the
skin is whole? Or do they want a record
of death laid to their account? Surely
there is not one who would not shrink
from such a thing. |
