Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1883-02-03

~ HAC nCEcS
Ifit be true, as is argued by some, that
atmospheric influences impel the human
family to excuses which in ordinary
times are never dreamed of, then indeed
this winter must 60 upon record as
moststriking exemplification of the the
Dry. The prevailing mania appears as a
form of delirium, which believes in no
silver lining 70 even the least portentous
Of dark clouds, but would have it that
each speck in the horizon Of existence Is
an unerring Indication of very tornadoes
Of destruction and death. The perfect
accord of the weather prophets in their
voluminous predictions of storms and dis
asters has undeniably produced an effect
upon people the nervous strain Of which
has by no means been lessened by the
series of calamities with the terrible de-
tails of which the public press has teamed
these many weeks.
None of the larger cities are ever during
the winter months entirely free from
smallpox, and rs rule, Baltimore may
fairly be stated as more exempt from the
scourging of the loathsomc pest than
almost any Of the great commercial CEN
tres.
Bal:imore's mortuary reports have for
years been of the lowest of the great cit
les, and at no time during the winter has
IL Ii. 4. ft.,
cent. over the average. This statement
may appear incomprehensible 70 those
who have perniitted themselves to be car
red away with the belief that half the
population of Baltimore was III danger of
speedy humiliation from the smallpox.
1t cannot, however, prove any more in
comprehensive than the reports of the
ravages of the disease which have been
circulated outside of the city. 1t has been
to Ballimoreans the old saying over again
of going away from hoaie TO hear the
| news.
Assuming the population of the city at
four hundred thousand, there has never
! been day when the percentage of the
sick reached one i'm eight hundred. To-
day there is hardly one in thousand, if
indeed one in twelve hundred. The high
est the weekly death rate reached was
less than one hundred, and upwards of
seventy per cent. were children under the
age Of ten. The disease has been abso-
lulely confined to the poorer and more
densely populated sections of the city, and
| there has not been solitary case in any
of the hotels or within the business or
better residence portions. No one visit
ing Baltimore has contracted the disease,
and not Il single instance has been known
where it has been carried away from the
city. 1t is absurd to claim the slightest
danger of contracting smallpox or any
other disease by visit to Baltimore, and
throughout business and social circles
there has most positively been no alarm.
Indeed, the talk about it has been OF the
reports circulated outside Of Baltimore
rather than of the ravages of the pesti-
lence within municipal confines. That
there has been very general vaccination
is true, and therein lies the greatest pos
sible preventative to the increase of the
disease.
Food, money and attendance have been
lavished with unstinted hand upon the
sick and the disease kept SO closely within
its centre OF origin that even in mid-win-
ter, when it prevails to much greater
extent than any other time, its spread
has been stopped short and quick. 30
vigorously and so successfully has it been
handled, that it is hazarding little, if any
thing, TO assert that there are to-day actu-
ally Il less number of smallpox sufferers
than in any of the large cities on the At
lanuc Coast. Forewarned has led to Il
forearming of 4 character none other of the
great commercial emporiums can boast of,
aud with an almost universal vaccination
there is nothing for the disease to feed
upon.-Ex.