Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-01-30
BILL ARP's OPINION OF FLORIDA.
The Philosopher of The Atlanta Constitu-
tim ReIates Same nf M. Expprience

The Philosopher of The Atlanta Constitu-
ton Relates Some of His Experience.
/ believe that would like Florida
pretty well If could get away from it.
But to be here prisoner throws a cloud
over its attractions and makes one rest
,ess and sad | lun't believe that para
disc would be welcome il there was high
wall rouA it, Like the sick boy who
lies near me. want To 20 home, and SO
does his mother II we had the lamp of
Aladdin and could use il for only single
wish. we would all say: Now take us
home" For sixty-tive days this boy has
been lying here lingering and languish-
ing with Florida fever-a fever that has
no other name-a fever that has no re-
mission, no crisis of fourteen DAYS nor
twenty-one. hut is a fever by the year,
and runs its course from sixty to ninety
days. with privilege of extension, and is
only aggravated by quinine and deties
aconite and arsenic and eucalyptus and
all the known remedies, and the poor vic
tim has to lie still and burn and see his
flesh consumed and his bones work
through. His mind becomes deranged
and his speech affected and his limbs
drawn up like grasshopper legs. We
hear of many such cases and we know
of one. and the doctors confess their
helplessness. Now here is field for
science. The Florida fever
People get restless and want to move
somewhere and try new country, but
if any of your folks have got the Florida
fever at home they had better stay at
home until they get well of it. or they
had better wait until Doctor Pasteur or
some other doctor discovers what kind of
poison to vHccinate with 80 as to keep
the fever off or shorten the time. But
still | like Florida. and would not I've
afraid To spend my winters here. but |
wouldn't come down here in the summer
10 work on railroad until had been
acclimated. reckon the people here are
rs generally healthy as they are anywhere.
They look like healthy people. but it is
very certain they have got a had climate
for fever. II is rarely fatal. but il cuts a
good big notch i'm mans time and flat
tens out his pocketbook in various ways.
We think now that our boy will get
well with careful nursing. and the doctors
say We may take him home about next
June. and 81 we are comforted. But if
another one gets down with Florida fever
| shall move him home at all hazards. or
else REM house and move the family
down. \ visitor that is 80 atfectionate
and stays 81 long when il comes must I've
entertained. See ROME boy here who
recently arrived from Texas and he is
pale and sallow and looks like he had
been living IN gully dirt. and comes from
the BRACES bottoms To- get well in Florida
He took the Texas fever in Rome and
went to Texas and took itagIin when he
got there and was down for six months.
and now he says he can't be worsted and
Is ready for anything.
But after all il is generally imprudence
and exposure. that precipitates the fever
here or anywhere. 1t breeds in the
malarial swamrs of any state and hence
has good chance at the bows who arr,
surveying these railroads and the laborers
who work ON them and have to wade
through them and drive piles and build
tr%tle work. The highland country is
not subject to it. The negro laborers are
more subje Ia il than the whites and
the railroad hospital here is literally
patronized with them. | saw some of
them who Were convalescing and their
akin was as rough and scaly as an alliga-
tors and all their joints were stiff out
%They will get we'll" said the doctor.
"Ah, YES they all get well. We have had
500 patients. and never lost but one"
what cures them:" said |. Ammo
Domini," said he. 1T is Just like the
fellow who had sick mule. and he gave
him castor oil and whisky and lye soap
and turpentine and everything else that
the neighbors told him and then rubbed
him with rail and went off and left him
for dead. But after awhile the mule
kicked around few times and got up
and shook himself and went to eating
shucks. but nobody knows to this day
" nat cured him."