Disease-Spreaders.
As I write, the country is in the grip of grippe. Hundreds of thousands of persons all over the land are suffering from the torturing plague. There are many deaths, especially of the aged and of those previously enfeebled by other diseases.
In some places laws have been made against expectoration in the streets, and against un-smothered sneezes and coughs, prolific sources of the grippe. On a single day 140 persons were taken into court in Greater New York under the anti-spitting ordinance, and fined from $1 to $5 each.
The ordinary person is abominably careless in the matter of spreading disease. We all know that colds are contagious, yet we go on sneezing and coughing in the midst of crowds, making no effort to cover it up. The result, in many cases, may be as terrible as the result of taking into a crowd a case of smallpox.
All this is bad enough, but still worse is men's carelessness in the transmission of spiritual plagues. They tell indecent stories. They show indecent pictures. They pass along indecent books. They make a parade of infidelity. They do not try to check profanity. Diseased in soul, terribly diseased and well aware of it, they seem to enjoy communicating the taint to as many as possible. The spreader of grippe is a saint compared with such persons.
Can we ever enact laws against them? Can we ever bring them into court and fine them severely for each offense? Someday, perhaps, we shall do this, when we come to regard immortal souls as highly as perishable bodies. But whether men ever take this cognizance of the sin or not, there is a Court that will take account of it, and the fine will last for all eternity.