The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-12-24
NO OLD-TlME AGUE NOW.
The Days When People Had Regular
Times to Shake.

The Days When People Had Regalar
Times to Shake.
Those were the days when there were
three synonyms for ague, besides plain
chills and fever. They were Indiana,
Illinois and Missouri, and the greatest
of these was Missouri. There were two
divisions of severity in those days:
Those who 'shook" on Monday,
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday made
up one division, and those who shook
OH Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,
and RENTED with the other the next
Monday, were the other. In those days
the invitations to social functions read:
'Mr. and Mrs. NJ. A. -Laria present
their compliments to Mr.. G. A. Fever
and beg to inform him that they will
not be shaking on Tuesday, and would
be pleased to have his presence at their
dark green tea
This would be the answer:
''Mr. C. A. Fever acknowledges the
kind invitation of Mr.. and Mrs. NJ. A.
LARA, but begs to inform them that
Tuesday is his day to shake"
Many an otherwise happy socia,
function was shattered, too, by the ina
bility of the Mr.. and Mrs. of the house
hold to get their ague fRr the season
started off on the same ~. Ofcouree
under the circumstances the whole
family would be compelled to miss the
entire social season or disturb with
their rafting or chattering every gath
ering they attended.
To-day the Diminishing sign reads:
"This is my busy day." In early Mis-
souri, times, ''This is my day to shake
was the correst form.
But al, this is changed now. No
longer is the congregation at church
changed every Sunday, and no longer
are two preachers, guaranteed not to
shake on the same day. necessary. 1t
was almost a part of the contract in
those days. For the oid-time chi,s are
no more. and the ague has almost al
most disappeared. There are a few
places in the south where it is still the
custom, but it very seldom crosses Ma
son and Dixon's line now. In some of
the parts of Arkansas where tyre-
writer's and bicycle boomers have rot
penetrated, there is yet some aouc, but
1t seldom gets north Of those secluded
spots. At present DR.. G. o. Coffin, CITY
physician, is treating two cases CT real.
o'd-tlme fever and ague, but thew are
the first he has seen in Kansas CITY in
ten years, he says.
DR.. d. r. Porter, who came here from
ONO 80 years ago, and E~s been here
ever since. says he has not seen a case of
old-tlme chills and fever in five wears.
LII. Coffin says it is because of the i'm
proved sanitary conditions. DR.. Porter
says it is be "ause the people drink bet
ter water.
In the early days, DR.. Porter said to a
reporter for the Star, three-fourths of
his income came from ague patients.
Doctors grew rich treating malarial
poison. The favorite and principal pre-
scrlptlon then was "quinine, 20 grains"
IN as many variations rs the, doctors
education and medical dictionary could
coniurc him distinguished ard high
sounding terms to substitute for the
word quic'inc. Andwh bot h ran short,
or the patients found it out and went
prescribing for themselves, it was an
easy m3t ter for the doctor and the
druggist to get together behind the pre-
scription case and argue upon some
thing new and cryptogramatic.-K
sas City Star.