The Hickman courier., 1878-09-13
Personal Experience Of Yellow Fever.

Its SIX weeks or rather more, since
lounged into the billiard-rOom of the St
Charles Hotel, and looked At the flying
ivory spheres as they were being manip-
ulated by two local crack players. There
is yellow fever in the city, though the
newspapers say nothing on the sub
ject. One of the players as he chalks
his cue, makes a testing illusion on the
arrival of ' Bronze John" | have been
feelinga an inexplicable sensation grow
ing over me; enveloping my limbs,
covering my back, and swathing my
chest with a garment of shuddering un-
easiness. didn't like the players re-
mark l Iinwardly wished that the OPP
ponent might beat him that game, and
! strobe to one of the seats against the
wall / was about turning round to
sit down, when something like a cricket
bat struck me on the back, and / felt a
terrible decrease in vitality. Why do l
say a cricket bat? Because il felt rs
s,hough q light piece of wood, fashioned
like the flattish, rounded blade of
cricket-bat, had struck mesquarely, but
not very hard across the back, several
inches below the shoulder blades. |
sink into the chair. A dull, but over
mastering pain shoots through my head;
my limbs tremble. l stare with perti-
nacty at the game, however. My favor
ite player has an apparently impossible
shot. He looks at the situation OF the
ball, and whistles deprecaungly as he
chalks his cue With a swift motion, as
if he had made mp his mind for c0Up
diHicile, he shoots his ball against the
object sphere. His ivory globe spins
swiftly round the table, making one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
cushions, twice round the table, and
caroms The spectators hum applause;
an enthusiastic, swarthy faced Creole
pounds his stick ON the floor. My head
becomes oppressed with Il load of pain,
and cold chilIs shoot up my back.
"Where do YOU Hveg" asks the
swarthy face. l look half-yacantly in
his face, and gurgle, '' No. --, Baronne
street" The billiard-room, crowded q
moment before, is empty.
Nv landlady is an Old North-of-lre-
land woman, and she has kept boarding
holse in New Orleans for thirty-years.
Her husband died Of yellow fever dur
ing q bad season before the war, and she
manages her extensive business, with
the help of her unmarried daughter.
My room is in a building rented by her
across the way. for single mems apart
meuts, and the rO0mers in that house
come across the way for their meals.
d" Don't be afraid, now :" said the old
lady; 8" III get Mrs. Delaney for We. and
wen get you through The Doctor will
be round in a little while.
Give me some ice water / cry
huskily; quick, for the love Of God -
She answered that she would. Dur
ING every half-lucid moment in the four
days. when my stout, imperious, kind
hearted Ixish nurse gave me, at eXcrucI-
atingly lsng intervals, a spoonful OF ice
water. and sometimes q piece OF ice the
size of a hazel-nut, ] raved and cursed
at nv landladv. She was vile, she was
atrocious. she was infamous. The re-
collection that she had promised the ice
water. and had heartlessly gone back on
her word, filed me with tempestuous
Indignation. Oh, if she had given me
that cooling drink / would have been
we'll ! would not have been the fiery fur
mace that / am. | would have choked of
the demon of thirst which is now con-
suming my vitals Now / can drink the
whole water-supply of the city. What
ec-tacv to be one of the fOrty-twO inch
pipes of the Detroit Water-works, !
wish the Mississippi River to flow down
my throat Oh give me the ocean IT.
So with my personal Oritice somewhere
in the Arctic seas near the frozen pole
The long night slowly fits away. and
the blaziugsun again scorches the plague
stricken city. Mrs. Delaney. by a fortu-
nate chance. has been secured. Her
last patient. Northern business man,
had died. Mrs Delaney does not pretend
to be very sorry. She isslXty-One years of
age. but more active than many young
woman of twenty. She knows her busi-
ness thoroughly, and mas no vain senti-
mentalism in her composition. In the
intervals of my restless tumbhng about
the bed. I commune with Mrs. Delaney.
Her first experience with yellow lever
was many years agO-ln the bad season
of lS37-when her first husband was a
victim to the plague, and she was left
alone with baby to fight the battle of
life. She married again, she tells me,
and her second husband Is not dead yet.
She remarks in crisp voice that she
doesn't know where he Is, and she
doesn't care. We change the subject.
find that'I can not possibly die to-
day. This is the second, and con
sequently an even number of days l
may die tomorrow, which Is Wednes-
day, the third day; or ! may become de-
funct on Friday, the fifth day or may
shuttle off this fiery, superheated coil on
Sunday, the seventh day; or l may
linger in agony till the following Tues
day, the ninth day; but l can scorch,
and burn, and gasp, and yell on any Of
the intervening days without fear of
death. ] study this theory over in a
wild, unconnected way, and think it
odd.
'sThe docthers say the croisis must
come on an odd day; and have always
found it so myself, says Mrs. Delaney.
" Can We spit?' The change of subject
is too abrupt, and | stare at her
vacantly.
&" Spit in that Hump Is yer mouth
sore? 1t is. Well, that's good. Yen
lose a power o blood out of yer
mouth" F."
Next day the doctor decides that l am
afflicted with epistaxis q don't know
whether ] have spelled it right. 1t is
bleeding from the mouth, tongue and
gums. Ny tongue is swollen, and there
are raw assures in it, and also in my
gums. and streams of blood issuing all
the time. After a while my nose con-
tributes a bloody stream, and | family
ask Mrs. Delaney if I am going to bleed
to death.
No; no danger of thai Bleeding
is a good sign" she says. | swallow
lime-water and calcined magnesia
which, am informed, prevents black
vomit My eyes, which have beer
aching terribly, now become iercely in
famed, and seem to be ready to start our
of my head. Toward evening I sign tt
my nurse to hand me a small mirror
which is hanging against the wall. She
refuses. / insist She persists, I hn
come exasperated and jump out of bed
ana, with firm step, walk up to th'
wall, ascend the chair, and take it down
" Yer so purity, We must see yerself,
says Mrs. Delaney, satirically.
/ can but inadequately describe tn
J expression of my face. 1t was never
/ goOd-iooking countenanee; nay, 1t wa
! always homely. The criticisms | hav
heard on my physiogomy might be sun
med up in the words stern an
% sour" Still it would pass in a very
| large crowd. But this-this is the fac
of a demon! Ny forehead is corrugated
my eyes are glaring and bloodshOt: IN
swollen lips are bloody and cracked: an
my discolored teeth, set fast, and e.
pressing murder and destructivenes
are a combination and form, indeed,
give the world assurance of fiend
try to mitigate the expression by an a
| tempt to smile and pr0duce-a hyen