The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-10-24
Plagues In the Past.

The yellow fever epidemic in portions
of the South may make the following |
sketch of the oriental plague and its |
ravages of interest Its most frightfuI
attack was centuries ago, when, under
the name OF Black Death it wiped away,
according to some estimates, one-third
of the population of the Old World ,
but in modern history it has appeared
not less than three times, and num-
bercd it victims by tens of thousands.
The first occasion was in 1876, at
Milan, Italy. Cardinal Charles Bor-
romeo was then archbishop; he was so
universally loved that his flock, his
clergy even, bcsought him to save his
life by flight; but the shepherd was
faithful to his sheep, and would not de-
sort them in their bitter extremity. lie
refused to leave, aud throughout the
many weary months during which the
plague lasted, was constant at his post.
He seemed to bear charmed life, and
whenall but he and Il few faithful oneslike
himself appeared to have abandoned all
hope, he assembled his congregation
under the mighty dome of the magni!i-
cent cathedral and there after solemn
High Mass, knelt down and prayed God
to take his life rs an eXpiatory Offering,
and deliver his people from the curse.
It's next appearance was in Amster-
dam, HOLLAND, in 1868, whence, in the
following year, it crossed the channel
and visited London. From the follow
ING February until after the first frost
of winter, its ravagcs we're horrible. In
one month not less than $4,000 people
! died, and the city SO soon afterwards to
be consumed by fire, was hall depopu'
| lated The symptoms were the same as
they had been in Milan. Araging fever
of a typhoid character was accompanied
by malignant tumors on the inner side
Of the arms and thighs, The pain was
excruciating, the thirst tOrmentlng, and
patients died by hundreds in the very
| delirium of madness. No BorrOmeo
was there to direct the energies of the
priests and nurses. There were deeds OF
| hcroism done, but it was not heroic
age. The prohigate of Charles II was
on the throne, and the Earl of Rochester
and his set were scarcely the men to fol-
low in the footsteps of the grand arch
bishop.
When the pestilence was at its height,
| the condition Of London was frightIuI
| Whole streets bore upon the doors a
cross, roughly painted in red, with the
inscription, y" he Lord have mercy
upon Us" as a sign that one or more Of
the iamates were dead or dying. The
grass grew in the thoroughiares that
used to be crowded, and where brilliant
carriages mad travelled to and fro AZ
every hour of the day only the tracks
Of the dead cart were zen. There were
none to bury the dead with appropriate
or even teCcuG ceremonies. Huge pits
were dug in the outskirts, and the bod,
ics Of men, women and children, un'
rolined, almost naked, were hurled III
by the hundred. C0rpse1 were lett &c
tester and rot even in the lanes and al
leys, and for some day it appeared as
though enough would not be left alive
to bury the dead. 1t was Il carnival OF
crime. Thieves and hOusebreakerS
roamcd the city at will and hired
nurses impatient Of the slow approach
Of death, murdered their charges by the
hundred, and enriched themselves with
the spoil Quack doctors, fortune teler',
sellers of amuIets and charms, and even
vcnders Of poison, reaped huge profits.
The last and third appearance of the
plague was at MarseiIes France, in
l72l. The Parliament Of Provence at
tempted to establish a military Gordon
around The city, but iugitivcs escaped
and carried the disease elsewhere, and it
was not until nearly 10000 had perished
that the plague abated.
Wherever it has appeared, an out.
break of crime has always accompanied
the plague, but everywhere, also, there
have been noble men and noble women
whose patient hcrosm stand out
brightly burning, to illuminate the page
of history.