How to keep flies out of the house
Since we cannot get rid of all the flies, the next best thing is to keep the few that may be left out of our houses and away from our food. This we can do by means of wire screens and netting. Wire screens are very cheap, and if there are no wire screens on your house, you should persuade your father to buy some. But a screen will not keep flies out unless it is kept closed, so do your part by never leaving the screen door open for a second longer than is necessary for you to go in or out.
Our houses are not the only places that need screens. Slaughterhouses, butcher shops, candy stores, grocery stores—every place where any kind of food is handled or sold—should be screened. Flies should never be allowed to alight on anything which is to be eaten.
Questions. 1. Name three ways by which germs get into our bodies. 2. How do germs get into our food? 3. Why should foods be screened? 4. Trace the fly from his birth-place to our food. 5. How do we know that flies have germs on their feet? 6. Tell how we can get rid of most of the flies. 7. How can we keep flies out of the house? 8. What can boys and girls do to help keep them out?
Remember. 1. Always wash an apple, pear, or any other fruit before you eat it. 2. All foods are handled by many people, and are not clean until they have been washed. 3. Flies like to live in dirty places, and their feet and legs are covered with germs; get rid of the flies. 4. Flies hatch in manure piles and other dirty places; keep your yard and lot clean so that flies will have no place to lay their eggs. 5. Put screens on the house to keep flies out, and keep the screens closed.
[CHAPTER XIX]
HOW DISEASE GERMS GET INTO WATER
The water that we drink frequently contains disease germs. It is not always the clearest water that is freest from disease germs, for the germs do not make the water cloudy.