The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-19

and Mortality Greater Than Reported.
Roanoke Has Jared Well on Account
of It's Young and Vigorous Population.
The First Presbyterian Church was
filed to its utmost capacity Sunday
morning, and many who could not get
seats were turned away. 1t had been
previously announced by the pastor,
Rev. w. C. Campbell, that the subject
Of the morning discourse would be, -'The
Influenza and Its Effects" The novelty
OF the subject and the present preva-
lence of the malady brought out an UNI
usually large audience, among the
number several physicians anxious to
hear what the divine had to say of the
perplexing disease. The text was from
Luke 2l:11 and was in these words:
"And great earthquakes shall be n
diverse places and famine and pesti-
lence."
He began by saying: Goods hand now
lies heavily upon the world. We are
now in the midst of the most widely ex-
tended and probably the most fatal cpl
demic which has occurred within the
memory of the oldest persons. AS a
visitation Of Gods providence it may be
profitable to US to consider 1t and learn
the lessons it may inculcate. If the
papers of our own and other lands would
do so, they would come to our desks day
by day draped in mourning. 1t is time
for the most thoughtful consideration.
ut is not new thing that epidemics
should IL present in the world and that
thousands anu thousands of persons
should die. AS far back as we can 80 in
authentic history we hear Of pestilences
They have been frequent in our own
era, and Europe, in the fourteenth cen
fury was visited by tho black death,
which left thirty five millions of graves
in it's path. In this century this coun.
try and others was visited by cholera.
and even of late years our own Southern
cities have seldom been free from the
presence of the yellow fever. But in
few instances has it been widespread
and universal.
Zone of the peculiarities Of the disease
which the French call la Grippe the
Italians the influenza and we the
grip is its universality. Some cpl
denies are local and limited by climatic
influences, but this is not the case with
the present one. 1t is literally all over
Europe, from the frozen regions of Rus
STA to semi-tropical Italy and Spain. II
is in China. 1t has snatched the chief
ruler of Egypt from his throne, and if
we could hear from the remotest por-
tions of the earth it would be there. 1t
goes into the palaces as we'll as the
howell. The queen regent and the young
king of Spain are sick. 1t has invaded
the colleges of the cardinals and in
vaded the walls of converts and mon
asteries.
Formerly the great plaques of
Europe have ragged chiefly in large and
thickly populated cities, finding the
majority of its victims amid poverty
and vice, while the wealthy have
escaped by fleeing to healthier climes.
But whore shall the rich flee now? 1t
has invaded the health resorts.
Another characteristic is the great
fatality that attends it. In Edinburg,
Scotland, the mortality for the week
ending December - was 43 in every ,OnO,
and the city having a population of 2lS,
600 this would mean 5000 had died in
that city in one weok In Plymouth,
England, the death rate was 45 to the
1000 and in Leith 40 10 the 1000.
SIN this country its ravages have been
greater than reported. Our newspa-
pers have been wisely considerate of the
nerves of nervous people and re-
Trained in many instances from
giving the actual figures of fatality.
The statistics for Philadelphia for No
vember and December record 1,436
deaths, just twice as many as during
the corresponding time of 1890. In one
town of this State with population of
5000, 500 cases of sickness were re-
ported at one time, and in one day in
that small town eleven funerals took
place. In our own city we are safe in
saying that since tho first day of De-
cember nine-tenths of tho families of
this city have had one o. more cases of
illness in them. Fortunately the death
rate has been very low. This can be
attributed to tho fact that we have
very young and vigorous population.
"rhose people are wise and blessed
who can turn all things to their spir-
itual benefit. From whence does tAis
plague come? Science answers, From
some violation of Natures laws But
there is another cause-it is from God.
In the present epidemic tho physicians
are perfectly at sea as to it's origin or
cause. One reason to believe that it is
from God is that at various times He
has sent pestilences and plaques into
the world. One of the most awful pes.
tilenccs OF antiquity was that which
stalked across Egypt and smote the
first born in tho. families of that land.
1t was predicted 1t was promised of
God. 1t came. 1t did its work. 1t is
UNIQUE stionably true that there are ma
tional sins as well as individual sins.
There are different sins of which the
different nations are guilty. Nations,
like men, commit sins that become more
and more awful and wide-reaching. un-
til they become a stencil in the nostris
OF the Almighty, like the cities of Sodom