The Cecil Whig., 1885-01-24
IN SCARLET FEVER TIME.

| to nave early, there is almost no pains
which wise mothers will not take to avert
! from their children this fearful evil, than
/ which no other disease is so much to be
| Dreaded. And it is justly that this dread
/ is felt: not even the small pox is so de-
! serving Of it. for although that some
times takes life. and often beauty, it
| seldom, after good recovery, does further
| damage. Bat the scarlet fever, even if
| 5he little patient escapes with life, is as
| likely as not to poison the blood, to in.
| jure Tie BRAIN to destroy the hearing, OF
| to affect To deadly purpose some vital
organ with long and slow aud painful
;ccly. Pre's terrible story OF tho Mus
| 9ae qt' tie Red Meath had in it some ele-
rsutS OF the hcrror that belongs to this
t"S.ieuce that walketh by MONDAY; and
"s have known an aged physician who
n-v-r could speak of this especial form
of Ioser without tears spEinging to his
egts, so much misery to child and parent
and household had lie seen it bring
At cut.
| When We see disease which, even,
OF recovery, diass after it III most in
stances long ssquels of ether ailments,
often veiled aud obscure and not easy to
reach ard treat-kidney affections, lung
troubles, glandular difficulties, idiocy,
and the rest-we can judge of tile viru-
lence of the original thing itself. And
il by any chance We see the Guild itself
enduring the first distress, the final ag-
ony. crying out in blind wonder at its
own suffering, yielding up its brief life
ness, with the paugs Of suspense and de-
Spair Of the mother bending over it, and
the desolation Of the home it lsaves so
empty az its sweet presence, till it seems
as If there were nothing but suffering in
the worid-~hcn by any chance We have
seen all this, have fought our own fight
with a disease capable of working such
woe-then it seems to us that we would
| almost give our own life rather than be
the means Of diffnsiug such trouble, of
increasing the suffering Of the world, OF
bringing snch pain and sorrow upon an
other person who loved child.
Yet it is an almost universal thing for
famllies-every individual of whom
would feel all this shrinking from in
creasng the sorrows of the world-in-
stead of doing their utmost to prevent
the spread of the terrible infection, act
in the matter, and that, of course, with
no intention other than good ones, but
partly from ignorance and partly from
though,lessness and partly from gen
era trusting to luck. There is case Of
fever in the house; they isolate it, and
then they think they have done their
whole duty: they themselves, if not
needed in attendance, go and come, here
and there. in aud out, "a they please.
"On, it is ouly slight case they an
swer you if YOU question their action,
fCr.etfu! o? the fact that tue most ma
liguant form can be developed from the
contaa ion of the very slightest case Of
scarlatina, scarlatina being the generic
name Of the disease in any form, and
not merely OF its lightest development.
TIE doctor goes and zones unavoidably
through the hall and up and down the
coinmou stairway between the door and
the >ick-room. nobody knows how many
germs Of the disease cliuging to the
wooden nbres Of his garments to be scat
tered III the hall and on the stairs, over
which the rest of the family pass recos-
sarly many times day, to gather them
mp in their own clothes, aud have them
read to disseminate Whenever thoy 60
out among people. The nurses, too, and
those III attendance on the sick-room, 60
up ana down into the kitchen and else
where about the house, carrying with
them more or less OF the atmosphere OF
the room and all that baiongs 20 it, again
to be possibly caught up bJ those who
have never gone near the patient; ard
the very dogs and cats about tho place,
gather the dangerous unknown force in
their long fur, and bring it to tho other
members Of Tie family. II then thess
ot!Icr members OF the family, thus vir-
tually contaminated. go out freely on
the street, what deadly w.,rk is 1t they
do, al unl tentinrsliy ard nnccnsciously
what seeds az death aud SORROW do they
scatter with every wave Of their gar
ments as they walk aud as they enconn
ter people on t'r streets or vsuiurs into
houses.
Donb:eas l. 's he:! a"i unpleasant, a
sort Of lmTvis .r:!:'' nj iusie' d. for people
not Immediate, c'j',c"rard in the work
for the sick t, Stat themselves W. wien
such trouble is in the house; hut there
are always ways f,r them ~ get enough
fresh ait to keep thcfE@: Ives in hralsh
Md fur lie rest OF it, if the thing comes
it shnuii be received lise any other dis
aGiIsttian and hnrne with becumine
struug !, and se.f-denial, even i: that re-
GuireS abstinence from church and con
cert ,nJ naii tho fore going uf ti!c morn
il. sh;,ppin. aud the afternoon stroll.
For cIil, three weeks after the patient
"a. 81 d .nser and cnnvaiescing pro
:ess calie.; tie>qnam1tinn--a shedding Of
the scGI; skin gees on with tue little
paysoa. ald every Iliks of that cutlcle
wafteii abroad is bur incubation OF the
| disease wherever received. Isolation,
ihe,', ca! not be too much regarded; and
If We do not here speak If dlsintection
1t is i.cc,use we believe every body in the
world must now know III, value and
necessity OF that III i's must extended
form, whiis many 'rset or are not aware
| Of the nue,! uf complete isolation. There
is nothing iGe in the cpurag- or bravado
30 the dwellings, where This sickness ex-
| ist>. It is very easy t. be courageous
fn other people, ard it is other people,
ana not ones self that the grown per-
So: endangeIs by going into the way Of
| the disease, and those other psop!e help
less Ii;tle chIl,iien. Grown people are
seldom in much danger OF receiving the
conta4ion for themselves, but they can
carry it IN their clothes; aud knowing
| this. and knowing the alarming vitality
of the germ. and how long afterward it
can maintain this devastating vitality
| with uuimpeached power they would be