Mt. Pleasant Pyramid | 1915-12-31 | Page 3 | Danger in Foolish Custom

I DANGER IN FOOLISH CUSTOM ' Those Who Bite Penholders In Public Use Are Hereby Warned of Possible Infection. v ' That the penholder, such as most of us frequently use in hotels, post of- V ss"- flce8 banks and other public writing i rooms may be as deadly a carrier of ' disease germs as the roller towel and ,: public drinking cup, is the suspicion for which the boardB of health believe be-lieve they have found ample grounds. The next time you use one of these public penholders you will notice, if ; you examine it carefully, that the I wooden handle 1b covered with little r ?ants. These dents are the imprint of the teeth of persons who have used I the pen before you; and as the mouth V is the favorite port of entry for dis- ease, each dent is usually full of microbes. mi-crobes. To expose yourself to sickness and death, therefore, all you need to do is to bite on the penholder. Every time you do this, you take into your mouth the germs which scores ,-pf i ' other persons have left by similar bites. HealU officials plan to secure legis-I legis-I lation abolishing the public penhold- er. In the meantime they urge the public to try to break itself of the al- most universal habit of holding a pen Q.,.-. --south while folding a letter k or blotting--- check.