The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-05-17
SMALLPOX HOUSE PARTIES
How they Used 60 m.ks Lashs OF the
Dread Disease In shs ola Days OF I'm
oculattom.
fsprinstl.ld Republican. }

(sprinsfsld Republican,
Did you ever hear your mother tall OF
how hsr mother or hsr grandmothsr told
her about the days before people were
vaooinsted. - . prsesut,on against small
poxp This is spropos CT recent cases OF
the dissass In this vicinity. We are al
remindsd that smallpox, like poverty
and some other Ills the nfsa IL heir 90, Il
always wish us, BY the vaccination ssars
on our arms, or else wkers. and By tbs
occasional record In The press Of small
likely, hevsvsr. that We have The dread
Of ths disease that our anst stors did In
the days bsfors vsooisation gave reason
ably sure protsetion ana the doctors did
not know 90 well bow 10 take care Of the
dissass. But these ansf 8 ,ors Of ours msoe
merry In tbs face sf their fears. as h
shown by THAR snail-pox heuss parties.
For TIE bensnt tf thoss who have NOT
locked up the history Of smallpox. and
who's forbeass neglected 10 trar smit 10
The ysunesr ssnerasions. what they knew
about 10, 10 might b. we'll 10 preface the
story. with.a fsw words Of explanation. In
spite Of the statement onos made By .
clergyman that "Job's distempsr was
oonfiuent smallpox, and he had bean ia
oculated By the DEVIL" 10 10 probable that
Adam and Eve knew nothing Of srsll-
pox, and there is no record that Abra-
ham. Isaao or Jacob took pfeosusiors
against ice spread. Certainly 81. "P."
"E ",or even az" said nothing about
vaoeination. or sven incubation. The
brilliant English woman. Lady Mary
wortiey Nontasu. who lived In the latter
part Of the nth century and the early
part Of the 18th, dared to fiy In the faoe
f public opiuion and thwart the ways Of
providence by endeavoring 20 check BY
incubation the ravages OF smallpox,
from which d,ssase she had lost ''sn
onlv brother and her tine eyslashes." In
IT'S she successfully applied the PROOF IS
60 her IN and daughter. end at nsr s u.
gestion five pr s,ners condemned to ieath
were slso inoculated, with slight illness
resulting. 10 digrsss still further, tt may
be explained that II the matter from .
smallpox pustuls be inssrted under the
skin OF one who has never suffered from
the dissass. toers will os developed In
few dsy S mild form OF nali-pox, rare
~ fatal or even s,rlous which leaves the
DAtient with few traces u his experience.
The only great obi sosion to incubation
with smallpox was that IL caussd the
disease to spread among thoss who were
not thus protected, 50 shat the mortality
was actually Increased by 10. But In.
oculatiop obtained IN I'll the vaccination
for oow-pox or kin-pox proved Its value
In 1926
To resume the s.ory Of the smallpox
house party, there were to be seen until
not many yeTs ago IN the south west
part OF the town OF Ledyard, CT, not
far from the Thames river. and set back
In q field away from all streets and roads.
the foundation s sonf S and cellar or what
had once been O spacious house. This
was the psst-houss, such as many COM
munities 10 Con uectlcut and AAsSaohu-
,tts have known, and was commonly
would repair the people who wanted TO
have smallpox and get 10 over With.
There they would be inocuiated with the
d'snss, pf s., the period OF Incubation,
have smallpox In . modified form aud
thereafter l,e free from the dread OF the
di seass. The lives Ct the well ta-do, We
are tcld, are no more valuable than thoss
Of the poorer people, but 1t 10 certain that
they are more solicitous about their
health. For this reason possibly ana per-
haps because the expenae OF this system
OF pi otection against smallpox was con
siderable, 1t was usually the well-to-do
people who were inooulated with small
pox and some Of tbs inoeuiation parties
we're more or less social Affairs The
pock-house was fittsd up as luxuriorsy
a. consistent with tts purpose. the diet
was carefully looked after and PHI ST.
Dian was In oon slant attendance. Tn
tf Ia particular occasion, which IVES In
the neigh borhood Il 1875. quite a number
OF the weli-known young peorls OF the
mel . h horhoad. Of hokn aaxPa ware fnn0u-
lated ct about the ssme time. They were,
ef oourss. In quarantine during the
period OF incubation and thsse days we're
made as lively as possible With various
kinds OF old fashioned games and also
with dancing, for In the party there were
some musicians and the sound OF the
nddls could DO heard nightly II anyone
book house. The quarantine YVES not 8,
strict but that people who had had small
rox could visit the house and help their
friends to while away the time, and 90
cordinRiy some Of these immunss ussd
to drop In and help along thu festivities.
IL may be that the social features Of tie
incubation procsss helped along the
spread Of the d'sas,, which was the great
objection made to Il. This party passed
through the ordssl without great harm,
save TO one Of it, membsrs, Q young man.
Among the guests one evening was q
young woman from the village who was
an immune. Whom the parry broke up
the youns man ssoorsed her out to the
road, or ~ far - the limits set for the
inmates Of the pook house, and WAS
caught In shower. With the csreles s.
meas of youth he sat around In bis damp
clothes, oAught GOLD and died from the
effects Of the smallpox whsn IL developed
soon after.