The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-29
THE LAKE COAST.
WORKINGS OH THE MAIL TRAINS AND
eF TEHE QUARANTINE REEU~
EATa0MS.

One Of us took O trip Friday evening on the
Mobile Railroad to the present terminus OF the
road. which Is Belle Fontaine station Miss
There the mails are exchanged with the train
coming from Mobile. The mode Of proceeding
In this mutual transfer Of mails Ia worth record.
ing. II 1t we're only us u landmark In the waste
Of years to show later what precautions were
dictated in these days by the apprehension Of
sickness and the panic created by The fearful
word epidemic" ~..
What is called the accommodation train
maiping, there over night. The mall wagon
with the baggage car. in which q few passen-
gers make Themselves as comfortable as they
con- then oceed across the bridge on Back
Bay to Ocean Springs. and thence to the ter.
minus at Belle Fontaine station. This ID
reaehed at about :3o o. M . A. soon az the dim
boarded by the local health officers who are reg
nlnrly relieved every day and the. few passen
gers georehinsly, though politely, intsrrogated
Ono Of these gentlemen, asked us II we
wished to ''uunransine." We were about to say
yes, thinking that 1t was something good to
membering the proverb IN dulico hkestinens
we refused with .becq2ming courtesy. 20 we
spout the night In tho baggage car which was
made quite comfortable aB q bed room through
the obliging and delinate "prevoyance' Of the
atfablo conductor. Billy Owens. who had pro-
FIRST class bed.
After gentle snooze of few hours. perhaps
made more profound by eonvivial chat with
the engineer and the courteous mail agent,
Caldwell, the first dawning glenn OF daybreak
awakened Us just in time to SOC. the traln from
The counterpsr Of he trsn from 2 Bo ope
engine and d mail and baggage carr The, Mo-
bile fellow announced his arrival by shri,,
and prolonged whistle, which our engine AMI
swersd In the same strain. Immediately retreat-
ing to o. distance Of about one hundred and
fty Hards, vs.. 50 e. to be as Ute eontagioqs, ns
to the platform, recklessly threw its mail-bags
signal whistle. TIL Now, Orleans engine. blow
in answer to show that she was not afraid,
whereupon he Mobile fellow rushed back to-
wards the hallowed limits beyond quarantine
like q str.ek of lightnins leaving the poison
Gus New Orleans team FREQ to tnko charge Of Its
mail without the fear Of being contain mated by
the pure a. mosphere that Is supposed to make
life endless In oil places beyond the pale OF
quarantine.
This Is the way our MAILS run through be-
i seems that auarantine. when 1t once takes
small localities, becomes mania. He cannot
live without 1t. He sleeps with It, takes 1t I'M
about II at night and during the day never lots
go OF its coat.tai He does not know exactly
what the thing is but he believes In It and the
gates of hell will not prevail against the delu-
SION
The mail agent told US that one evening his
stomHoh crayed for q cup OF coffee. and as the
train stopped at q way station he called o col
ored man and ased him to bring him one. oh
no, massa'"' answered the negro, this Is quan-
tine: can't do it,
why, you old fool. what harm can come to
you in bringing mo acup Of coffee 2"
dunno, massa: but of do so uuantine will
get me- Oh no. you can't catch dis nigga wild
dis chat. Quantine Is dc biggest thing on earth
now. an I can't do nothing for you under de
circumstances"
And the mail agent had to go without his cup
Of coffee because "quantine" was In the way,
A woman residing at Ocean Springs and who
had her family there, had gone to the cam .
ground near Biloxi Tor devotional exercise
leaving her infant hid at home. When she
wished to return. the health officers stopped
her and che had to quarantine for ten days
before. being permitted to go home and meet
her child.
1t seems to ne that this is like running o. thing
into the ground. It ought to be On accepted fart,
now that the whole lake coast Ia invaded by
yellow fever and the petty and vexaffous quar-
antines put up, by every small village ore
rksome and useless.
Our representative has followed the whole
lake coast. as far as he was permitted to go,
and found everywhere, upon interrogating re-
sponsibe persons, that "RrOnze John" was
there. Further than Belle Fontaine station he
knoweth not. only by rumor whose tongue Is
exag operative or mendacirus. 1t Ia p superati-
ton with the natives and henith officers that
beyond the line which Ia picketed by them dis
ease is unknown and Immaculate health Is the
portion Of residents. We doubt it, The tele
graph does not prove II. and our experience
shows that blind faith alone can make of that
idea an absolute dogma.