The Story of the Month of May

Title

Language

English

Year

1936

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

116 THE YOUNG CITIZEN Mny, 1936 AMONG the goddesses of the ancient Romans was the goddess Maia, whose festival comes on the first day of the month which was named after her. Maia was one of the seven daughte1·s of Atlas and Pleione. Pursued by the great hunter Orion, the seven girls were changed into pigeons. When they flew into the sky, they became a cluster· of stars.. This constellation has been called the Pleiades. Maia was the goddess of the plains. The Romans offered sacrifices to her on the first day of May for productive land. She was the mother of Mercury, the messenger of the gods. To enable' him to move swiftly, Jupiter gave him. wings for his feet and a winged cap for his head. Apolo gave him a magic wand which had the power of making enemies become friends. Mercury put it between two fighting snakes and they at once wound themselves around it. Since then Mercury has always been represented with his winged sandals and cap and his wand around which two snakes are wound. HEALTH AND SAFETY KEEPING THE HOME SAFE DURING VACATl::>N I am sure that you are not fond of flies. They are dirty and leave germs in your food and other things in your home. They can make you very sick. Is there . any other reason why you should fight flies? Here are some rules which will help you in fighting them: 1. Swat each fly that comes within your reach. Flies breed so rapidly that one fly can have several million descendants. 2. Flies breed in manure and garbage. Empty the garbage cans very often so that the flies won't have a chance to breed. in them. Use a covered garbage pail. This will make your task easier. Be sure to burn or bury garbage. Then the flies cannot get' at them. 3. Flies carry germs from outside to th" food in the house, so there should not be any dirt lying about your house and yard. 4. Make war not only on flies but also on mosquitoes, cockroaches, and dirt, for . then you will be fighting disease. Have you ever seen children who get hurt because they do not help their parents keep the house safe during vacation? Some cliildren get poisoned, others fall down stair~. There are those who get scalded by boiling water. Children like you should be able to do your share in keeping the home safe from accidents. Here are several things to remember: Keep brooms, mops, baskets and other objects away from stairs or steps. Then the smaller children will not fall on them and hurt themselves. Help your mother when she tries to keep pots of boiling water and· other hot liquids in places that cannot be reached by care'iess hands. Medicine should be placed in the medicine cabinet. All bottles should be labeled. Never use the contents of any .bottle if you have not yet asked what they are for.

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