Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-08-24
In a Plague-Stricken City.


There has been a grim fascination in
the histories of these all-devouring pes
tilences, from the day of Deffoe down.
wards. Tt may, therefore, be interes-
ting to recall some of the passages from
'Dothen' in which Mr.. Kinglake gives a
vivid picture Of Cairo during the plague
of 1S47, during the whole time Of my
stay in Cairo" he begins, 'the plague
was SO master OF the city, and stared SO
plain in every street and every alley,
that I cannot now affect to dissociate the
two ideas" When Mr.. Kinglake arrived
at Cairo Che rode in from the Desert n
spite Of friendly warnings) he found
hinselfth only European traveller there.
It was bold undertaking voluntarily to
take up his abode in that plague-stricken
city, and during his stay he lived under
perpetual apprehension, for even in
sleep, he says, there remained with him
some faint notion of the peril with which
he was encompassed. Fear, he goes on
sarily damp the spirits. IF I
had not been surrounded at this
time by new faces, new scenes. and new
sounds, the effect produced upon my
mind by one unceasing cause of alarm
may have been Different" AS it was,
''the eagerness with which 7 pursued
my rambles among the wonders of
Egypt was sharpened and increased by
the sting of the fear of DEATH" When
he first arrived, the daily number OF
accidents by playue, out of q pop
ulation of about 100000, did not exceed
our or five hundred but before he went
away (Mr. Kinglake spent eighteen days
in the city, deaths were reckoned at
twelve hundred a day. His quarters
were in one of the chief thoroughfares
Of the city, and the funerals passed
under his windows. These funerals
were very simply conducted. The bier
was shallow wooden tray carried upon
a light and weak wooden frame. The
tray had in general no lid, but the body
was more or less hidden from view by a
shawl or q scarf II never observed any
appearance Of mourning in the mourn
ers; the pace was too severe for any
solemn afectation Of grief" AS
the days passed the funerals be-
came more frequent, until at last
the passing OF the howlers from morn to
noon was almost incessant. Il believe
that about one half Of the whole people
was carried off by this visitation" The
plague, howev er, was never allowed to
interfere with the religious usages ofthe
inhabitants. He rode one day round
the great burial ground:
The ground, unlike the ''Turkish cit
beautiful by their dark expresses, has
at tn oIor phnlx |,
to mitigate the hatefulness of death.
Carniverous beasts and birds possess
the place by night, and now in the morn
ing it was all alive with fresh comers-
alive with dead. Yet at this very time
when the plague was raging so furiously
and on this very ground, which resoun-
ded so mournfully with the how's of ar
irving funerals, preparations were going
on for the religious festival called the
Kurban Bairam. Tents were pitched,
and swings hung for the amusement of
children-a CHASTITY holiday"
The Mohammedans, it seems, refrain
from approaching heaven with their
complaints until the plague has endured
fora long space. And then they pray
God-not that the plague may cease
but that they may 60 to another city!
Those who believe in the efficacy of
cordons and seclusion will appreciate
Mr.. Kinglake's account of his visit to his
banker. He was staunch believer in
the fatal effects Of contact:
''At his door several people were hang
ing about and keepingguard. At length
I Was conducted through the court and
up flight of stairs, and finally into the
apartment where business was transact
ed. The room was divided by a good
substantial fence of iron bars, and behind
these defences the banker had his sta
ton. From fear of the plague he had
put himself in strict quarantine l adj
vanced to the iron fence, and, putting
my letter between the bars, politely off
cred it TO Mr.. Banker. Mr.. Banker re-
ceiyed me with sad and detected look,
and not with open arms but with
pair of tongs. placed my letter be-
tween the iron fingers, these instantly
picked it up as if it were a viper, and
conveyed it away to be scorched and
purified by smoke and fire.
But, alas! despite these ingenious con-
trivances for eluding Fate, the money
changer, "who had strived to guard the
days of his life with bolts and bars of
iron" was carried off by the plague.
Disguised at such treatment, Mr..
kinglake courage ously determined that
the epidemic wa: not contagious, and
that he could not be killed ''by the touch
Of a woman's sleeve nor yet by her bles-
sed breath" He altered none of his
habits or amuse ments. He went1hither
and thither ais the fit took him. To any
one, however, holding the opinions Of
the unfortunate Levantine banker, ssthe
narrow and crowded streets were as ter
III H. ~ IL L.