The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-09-24

youus 1s simost as soon as life left them, II not
ssooner. Against this deadly epidemic youth
was no security, riches no guarantee beauty
~ Yon saluted an acquaintance in the morning,
Won met his funeral in the evening You
transanted business with friend now, in
few hours you heard of his interment.
neiphbor called to have friendly chat; he
takes leave, and behold he has scarcely reach.
ed vonr threshold, when his blackened face
writhipg in paroxysms of agony, gives you the
horri BILE intelligence that the plague has seized
him. A poor man looks with pride on his
beautiful child to-day, tomorrow he lays
| little corpse on the hideous cholera cart, and
| soen the frigbtful contortions of his stalwart
frame prove that he is in deadly ;s & &srappis with
| spreads, the minds of some become so hardened
| chat compassion for the wretched victims gave
place to an instinct for self-preservation, which
tempted children to abandon the couch Of
| dying parents, husbands TO ny from plague
stricken wives, and mothers to shudder as they
bent over the cradles OF Their sickening
| babesl
No sooner had the plague appeared, than the
Archbishop presented himself at the convent
| on behalf of his suffering flock The Sisters
I knett to receive his blessing, and then rose up
and made the cholera hospital their home. No
| words can describe the zeal of the Foundress
an angel mid the vapors of death" whispering
words of consolation to many who had pre-
yously refused to he comforted. She would
allow no one to be buried till She had assured
herself by personal inspection that life was
really extinct would she allow the nurses
to cover the faces of those supposed to be dead
till q stated time had elapsed These were
necessary precautions, which probably saved
thousands from fate more dreadful than even
death by cholera. For in such violent dis
ease, exhaustion, produced by intense suffer
ing, might occasion Q temporary cessation of
respiration, and give the appearance Of DEATH
which, however, can occur only when :" some
organ, absolutely essential to existence, ls srTe
q parably destroyed"
? She was very severe with nurses who neg
. lected the sick, or seemed in too great hurry
4 Il l.ol ohn oraro roonpN
J. physicians, who, undismayed by the horrors Of
y the dreadful crisis, thought only of the honor
of discovering q specific against the pestilencs,
Q and who, in their ardor for experimenting,
It seemed to forget that their patients were hu-
= man beings.
Brandy. laadanum aud heating applications
| were the ordinary remedies, and the tired
n sleepy nurses sometimes evinced propensity
10 to solace themselves with the first; but they
"a soon perceived that they could not be guilty
. of the least intemperance with impunity. For
70 q while the deaths averaged sic hundred a day,
IT and many of the patients had to be instructed
Ia in the first rudiments of Christianity. 1t was
w sometimes difficult to rouse them from the
stupor or lethsrgy which followed violent
Of cramps {; but the FOundress and her associates
es were interchangeable They determined to save
- y the sonls if not the lives of the sick, and no
IL sooner had they instructed patient than the
n saoraments were administered. Rev: Father
IS: Carroll never left the hospital till the last YES
" tiges of the epidemic disappeared; and all the
aS Catholic clergy We'd with each other In assist
ing the sick.
pa The presence OF the OlSCeEB was Oh Rrea
of assistance to the medical staff. The populac;
VA dixie the citizens of Paris in the same year,
n under q general impression that the docton.
of murdered all who died, at first not only refused
to submit their sick to medical treatment, but
they watched the sick who were being carried
ms to the hospital; and after having robbed tae
: a | them and aung the fragments into the Lltey
Even the venerable Archbishop and clergy
could not prevail on them to send their sick g
ge the hospital Whens however. the poor terri
"a fed people saw the Sisters of Mercy accepting
wv and administering the prescriptions Of tn tn
en- physicians they became satisfied, and IN itti
ar while their frenzy was entirely Gained.
ian Protestant patients crowded to the Sisters
10 and most of them, after waiting vainly for
zen visit from their own minister, begged to be in
ere struoted in the Catholic faith. While Csthoh
tho clergy lived in the crowded wards, other csrg
could not be induced to set foot in them.
Gus Indeed, if the ministers were self-sscrifcn
lm- enough to desire to fulfil their obligations +
I IN the dying, their wives were generally ready
49,, main tain that the marriage vows were mor
'no binding than the ordination vows, and th
theology of the ladies invariably prevailed
was Once, indeed, when the season was far at
20 vanced, clergyman passed through the broa
" corridors, and called aloud to nq uire if frien
and of his, who was sent in some days ago, WI
was still alive. A nurse politely requested him
.vn come and see, but sudden panic seized hir
N aud he fed for his life. The nurse, who had
re" wonderful facility for speaking unnecessaril
up was painfully candid in expressing her priVa
lied opinion of the poor ministers zeal. RaisiI
-, ner voice to the squealing key, as he hurried
oiu' receded, she gave MIN, TO the great amuseme
to of all within hearing, very uncomplimsnts
oiat lecture, of which only the echo reached him.
Patients just escaped from the jaws of deaf
yo"' stretched out their heads with ears erect
and hear the oue-sided argument, and convsI
was tottered to the doors with similar inter
- The physicians could not preserve their graVi
fe and laughter was heard for the first time IN
/. If dismal cholera hospital
ould From Dean Gatfney's Memoir of the Foun
he. ress, we make the following extract, relatt
to her labors in the cholera hospital: " Bat
the hospitals, where the cry of the infant v
i the wildly mingled with the means of its expir
the tI; Io'ner: ; W5eEe Sne se19G, sCron9 nSn hIa M
t be- his writhin0 frame nnivered in the fesrt
nter- paroxysms of his malady; where pestilence
, re. its most terrific form. pointed to the purE
cter. cents of crowded viotims and 1anohed TO 500
we the subtlest skill of the pbysician-there,