The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1854-07-29
THE GREAT PLA(:lE.

In Dickens Chd's History of England,
volume two. we find the following respecting
-hc Great Plague that prevailed in the I 7th
century in the city of London:
For this was the year and the time Of the
Grra Plague in Lonon. During the winter
OF 1861. it had been whispered about that
some few people had died here and there OF
d,,,a,r called the plague, in some of the un
wholesome suburbs of London News was
not published at that time as it is now. and
some people believed these rumors. and some
d>bclrvcd them, and they We're soon forgot
ten But in the month Of May, 1868, it be-
AN to be- said all over the town that the dis
ease had burst out with great violence in st.
TILES: and that the people were dying in
great numbers. This soon turned ont to be
awtullv true. The roads out OF London were
choAcd up by people endeavoring to escape
from the infected city. and large sums were
paid for anv kind of conveyance. The dis
ease soon spread 80 fast that it was necessary
TO shut up the houses in which sick
people we're, and to cut them off from con-
munra,ion with the living. Every one of
these houses was marked on the outside of
tie door with red cross, and the words.
Lord have mercy on us. The streets were
all deserted. Hra>S grew in the public ways,
aud there was a dreadful silence in the air.
When night came on dismal rumbing used
to BE- heard, and these were the wheels of
;hc ,leath-cart. attended by men with ycllcd
faces and holding cloths to their mouths. who
rau. dolciul hcl>.and cried in a loud and SOL
emn voice. Bring out your dead The
coryseS put into the carts were buried by
torchliyht in great pits, no service being
Performed over ,heln-all men bcln. afraid
TO stav for moment on the brink OF the
ghasty graves. In the general fear children
ran away from their parents, and parents from
their children Some who were taken Ill died
alorc and without any help. Some We're stab
bed or strancled by hired nurses, who robbed
them Of all their money, and stole the very
beds on which they lay. Some went mad,
dro,pcd from their windows, ran through the
streets and in their PAIN and frenzy threw
Themselves into the river These were not
all the horrors OF the time. The wicked and
dl>solute, in wild desperation, sat in tavernS,
singing roaring songs, and were stricken as
they drank and went out and died. The tear
ful and supcrs,itous persuaded themselves
that they saw supernatural sights burning
swords in the sky, igantic arms and darts
Others pretended tina, at night vast crowds
Of eh sts walked round and round the
dismal pits One mailman. naked and car
ryin. brazier full OF burning Goals upon his
head s,alk.d through the streets, crying that
he was prophet, commissioned to denoanct
The vengeance of the Lord on wicked Lon
don. Another ALWAYS went two and fro cX-
claiming. Yet forty days and London shall
be DESTROYED - a third awokc the echoes
Of the dismal streets, by night and by day
and made the blood of the sick run cold, b!
calling out necessarily, in a deep hoarse voIc,
~ the great and dreadful God '.
Through the months OF July, and August
and September. the Great Plague ragged more
and more. Great fires were lighted in the
,,Hee,s. in TIE hope Of stopping the infection;
tu' there was plague OF rain too, and II
beat the fires out. At last. the winds whlcl
usually rise at that time OF year which is call
cd the equinox, when day and night are of
equal length all over the world. began tC
Bow. and purify the wretchcd town. The
rtaths began to decrease, the red crosses tC
usaPpear,th iugitivcs to return.thc shops tC
open again, pale, frightened faces to be sccr
IA The streets. The plague had been in ev
cry part Of England, but in close and un
wholesome London it had killed one hun
1'sd thousand people