The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-11-20
The MeddLer
III The eoai fns yos, put IL on. :
Tallgrass Corners, Nov. Is, 10

Putting prodigiously on one ~ those 30
lltieal Garcias which came near putting IN,
, out OF commission at the close OF the last
local election, ! sneaked into your tow
the other night under cover Of darkness {,
view the smallpox situation from an un
prejudiccd standpoint | had already
made up my mind that the only unpreiu
diced standpoint would be- found some
where within the village limits and the
trip justified my conclusion. From what
had heard up in this neck OF the woods
you were IN dire straits-worse off than
those poor people who were cooped up
during the siege Of Paris. The X. +. ID.
man had II that the telephone wires were
being cut 10 prevent a spread OF the con.
tagion and that the road commissioner was
taking up the pavement in Main street 50
1t would be easier to bury people there
when that emergency arose. He didn't
say how il was that Uncle Sam was still
peddling mail postmarked from Brattle.
boro. aud it was that omission which
made me suspicious.
SO, a. ! said, enyeloped in a cloud OF
an,iseptic incense from one OF those po.
lItical threeiers and fortified inside with a
drop OF "scarletoptic' TO annihllate any
stray germ that might have become i'm.
mune 10 smoke through having been
reared in a lawyers office, | surreptitious
~ sneaked ont OF this metropolis and
headed toward Brattleboroby va dam.
site. as you call it. ! supposed of
course | should find GORDON OF pickett
stationed about the town and had already
invented a story which | thought would
get me through the lines | was going to
tell the first guard ! met that | was an
undertaken looking for employment, and |
was wondering how this yarn would work |
when ! suddenly realized that ] was al
ready within the limits of your fair land |
supposed very much umbilcatedl city.
Imagine my surprisei The electric lights
were still beaming their gladsome welcome
there bright rays twinkled forth from ap.
parently joyous firesides; a vehicle rolled
by which discovered to my establishment
was not hcarse. Pedestrians were NOV
ing about evidently on pleasure bent. and
| even heard the joyous laugh of a little
child. Everywhere was the usual peace
and quiet; nowhere was crepe, sackcloth or
ashes. ! was dumfounded-I doubted my
senses rs this Brattleboro,' | timidly
inquired Of man whom | met. 1T is,
don't run" he replied. there are still
few of us left" There began to dawn on
me the magnitude OF the exaggeration
with which all of the hearsay reports
about your smallpox outbreak had been
smeared Immediately | threw away the
butt of my election cigar and set out to
earn the truth-to ascertain Just how
much fact and how much fearfed fancy
he situation held. And let me tell you
that what | heard caused much more =
aughter than grief.
One of the first men | met on Main =
treet was Attorney General Fits. "How 9
ire you feeling, general" said |. merely !
Is salutation. well" he replied q i
eel a good deal like a man who has di-
'orced his wife and given her the custody !
# the minor children Then he went on =
o tell me that there was smallpox in his 7
amily but that there was nothing about u
he situation which need to cause e
worry. "The folksll be out Of quarantine !,
5 he scratched his left arm near the Il
boulder. We'll, we'll" thought to my
elf, Il guess I'm going to live through
his after all | went up the street a
tile farther and came upon big bulletin
oard bearing the following immortal line:
DR.. Tucker reigns and the town still
yes Down at the bottom some one had
,ritten with a pencil: 'The only people !
kelly to die are the doctors, who are
'orking themselves to death vaccinating
eople.' !
This last line treasured me more than
nything else had seen. 1t demonstrated
nat the people of the town still retained !
1eir sense of something that !,
ould have vanished at the first sign of |
error. The rest of the evening l spent in
nding out Just how matters stood.
armed that the authorities Of your town =
ere handling the situation in a safe and
me manner that the people of the town
nd gotten over the fright which the first
ention of the word smallpox brought,
nd were attending to their business as
nsible mortals should that there wasn't
lie slightest reason for fear that the dis
se would spread to any extent now that
'actically everybody had been vacci- hi
tied Last but not least, | learned that ar
,body who actually knows anything about oh
regulations thinks there is the -
,ghtest reason for anybody to keep TO
way from Brattleboro tn
"Safe!" exploded one physician when l fu,
ked him the question, ITS the safest 90,
ace in the state Our sick people are Ca
here they won't endanger anybody ira
hose of other towns may be walking Nc
ound the streets" a.,
Yours optimistieally.
The Wise GUY OF