e chaff, which in this case meant the dull, from
the gleanings, most of them gave several columns the next morning to the
story. Peter's speech was printed in full, and proved to read almost as
well as it had sounded. The reporters were told, and repeated the tales
without much attempt at verification, that Peter had taken the matter up
without hope of profit; had paid the costs out of his own pocket; had
refused to settle "though offered nine thousand dollars:" had "saved the
Dooley children's lives by sending them into the country;" and "had paid
for the burials of the little victims." So all gave him a puff, and two
of the better sort wrote really fine editorials about him. At election
time, or any other than a dull season, the case would have had small
attention, but August is the month, to reverse an old adage, when "any
news is good news."

The press began, too, a crusade against the swill-milk dealers, and the
men who had allowed all this to be possible. "What is the Health Board
about, that poison for children can be sold in the public streets?"
"Where is the District Attorney, that prosecutions for the public good
have to be brought by public-spirited citizens?" they demanded.
Lynx-eyed reporters tracked the milk-supplies of the city, and though
the alarm had been given, and many cows had been hastily sent to the
country, they were able to show up certain companies, and print details
which were quite lurid enough, when sufficiently "colored" by their
skilful pens. Most residents of New York can remember the "swill-milk"
or "stump-tail milk" exposures and prosecutions of that summer, and of
the reformation brought about thereby in the Board of Health. As the
details are not pleasant reading, any one who does not remember is
referred to the daily press, and, if they want horrible pictures, to
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. Except for the papers, it is to be
questioned if Peter's case would have resulted in much more than the
punishment of the man actually convicted; but by the press taking the
matter up, the moment's indignation was deepened and intensified to a
degree which well-nigh swept every cow-stable off the island, and drove
the proper officials into an activity leading to great reforms.

No one was more surprised than Peter, at the sudden notoriety, or at the
far-reaching results. He collected the articles, and sent them to his
mother. He wrote:

"Don't think that this means any great start. In