The Press., 1890-01-02
(Burdette in Brooklyn Eagie9
 EaeH.Snnna i'm miaaaAA.

At one time, when I was a boy, every body used to have the ague, all or part of the time. But it was too realistic in. its development, it settled down to business in the first round in such dead earnest sort of way, that it never was very pop ular in society and never grew to be the dolce far saiente kind of a malady that our best society liked to daily with, and so fashionable physicians, such as alternate their prescriptions with Vers de socdete and novels, ceased to prescribe ''fever 'nager" under any name for their patrons, and the disease went west. where the people weren't so particular. Then you remember, hay fever was boomed into sudden popular CT learned men, and everybody had it just to have something that Mr. Beecher h. d. For some years it was purely 8 literary disease only men of letters, artists and musicians had it it was sort of Lotus Club monopoly, and was greatly longed for and universally sought after. By and by some very rich people bought few sporadic cases of it, and the year following the dudes got it, then for season or two every body had it, men, women and fools. That run it out, of course, and to-day you can't find poet or an artist who will ac- knowledge that he ever had sneeze of it. After that, malaria came in. It was the most universally popular complaint ever known, and held its place in society, the world of literature and commerce longer than any of it's predecessors. It took the place of biliousness at once; it used to be-, when 8 man didn't know what ailed him., he said-and really thought-he was bill ious. But malaria was more euphonious title, it had strange, imported, classical tone to if, and it fitted every symptom that humanity could invent. On the mountain top, down by the shores of the loud sound ing sea, in the mist stcovered swamps, in the dry and dewless desert, every place where the foot of man could tread, the man who owned the foot could have ma- laria, any time he wanted it, and all he could hold of it. It scarcely affected two victims alike it made one head heavy and the other light where one man took qui- nine for it, twenty took whiskey some people went to the mountains 10 escape it some to the sea, some to the desert some to Bermuda, some to Europe, and some to the inebriate asylum. And now this new rival, "La grippe, enters the field. But it is not to stay long. predict that it will be knocked out before the anemones bloom. It hasn't the staying power of ma laria. It isn't so conveniently applied ; it can't be carried about on the person so easily, it won't adjust itself to any loca; tion and every surrounding so exactly ; oh, for good, reliable everyday old stand by in all this world of maladies, there's nothing that can shake stick at malaria. So, while it is trifle out of the swim just now, believe, if have anything this winter, I'll have the malaria. I'm used to that I know how and where to get it how much of it to take and what to do for it. But you go to fooling around this new epidemic before people have learned how to handle it and first thing you know it will fly the track with somebody and pitch him clean over the fence.