Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1898-05-14
NO Old TINE A0UE NOW &: &. g
Days when People Had Regular 1lnei
Co shake Almost Unheard OF,

~ tNHA~l
Those were the days when there were
three synonyms for ague besides plain
chills and fever. They were Indiana, ILL
nois and Missouri, and the greatest of
these was Missouri There wers two divi-
sions of severity in those days. Those who
shook on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
and Sunday made up ono division, and
those who shook ON Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday and remitted with the other
the next Monday were the other. In those
days the invitations to social functions
read:
.sMr, and Mrs NJ. A. Laria present their
compliments to Mr.. O. A. Fever and beg
to inform him that they will not be shak-
ing ON Tuesday, and would be pleased to
have his presence at their dark green tea. !"
This would be the answer:
"Mr. G. A. Fever acknowledges the
kind invitation of Mr.. and Mrs. M. A.
Laria, but begs to inform them that Tues
day is his day TO shake"
Many an otherwise happy social fnnc-
ton was shattered, too, by the inability of
the Mr. and Mrs Of the household to get
their ague for the season started off on the
same day. OF course under the circum-
stances the whole family would be COM
PEELED to miss the entire social season or
disturb with their rafting or ehattering
every gathering they attended.
Today the dismissing sign reads, "This
is my busy day" In early Missouri times,
This is my day to shake was the correct
form.
But all this is changed now. No longer
is the congregation at church changed ey-
cry Sunday, and no longer are two preach
ers, guaranteed not to shake on the same
day, necessary. 1t was almost part of
the contract In those days For the old
time ehills are no more and the ague has
almost disappeared There are few places
in the south where it is still the custom,
but it very seldom crosses Mason and
Dixon's line now. In some of the parts
of Arkansas where typewriters and bicycle
boomers have not penetrated, there is yet
some ague, but it seldom gets north Of
those secluded spots. At present Dr. @.
O. Coffin, city physician, is treating two
cases of real, old time fever and ague,
but they arc the first he has seen in Kan
sas City in ten years. He says:
DR.. d. R. Porter, who came here from
Ohio 30 years ago, and has been here ever
since, says he has not seen a case of old
time chills and fever In five years. DR..
Coffin says it is because of the improved
sanitary conditions. DR.. Porter says it is
because people drink better 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 prescription then
was, "quinine, 90 grains, in as many
variations as the doctors education and
medical dictionary could conjure him dis
tinguished and high sounding terms to
substitute for the word quinine. And
when both ran short or the patients found
it out and went prescribing for themselves
it was an easy matter for the doctor and
the druggist to get together behind the
prescription case and agree upon some
thing new and cryptogrammatio.-- kansas
City Star