Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1941-03-13
MONTGOMERY
Nl SIDELIGHTS
Elsie White Haines

ria IN montgomery County - how
widespread it was we cannot re-
member = our story is about three
homes = each about a mile from
the other.
One family consisted of mother,
father, five children, a cook and a
white "hired man" - at the second
home there were the parents and
two small sons - the third house
held three generations of colored
folks - "Aunt Matildy" who was
the colored grandmother did the
washing for the two white families.
The children were being kept
home from school - or perhaps it
was closed scarcely a winter
passed those days without an cpl
demic of some kind - the "big
boys" came in after Christmas =
you remember only two of the
children were of school age any,
way = with no close neighbors -
no outside contacts - the children
were considered safe.
Each week Aunt Matildy came
the first fair day, one week she
wore long cape that had been on
the bed of one of her grandchildren
the night before - the little fell
low had been restless and cold so
she had wrapped her nice warm
cape around him.
Aunt Matildy loved children =
as do all her race, so she held the
baby - aged three or four months
- while the mother gathered up
the soiled clothes-the cook washed
the dishes - and the "wash water"
was heating on the kitchen stove.
Next day she went to the second
home = the boys loved her so they
spent most of the day in the
kitchen with her - and that cape!
The baby in the first household
became peevish = but her two sis
tiers and two brothers gave her so
much attention that it was not
until she had pretty well develop
ed case of diphtheria that the doc
tor - DR.. Roger Brooke - was
called in. By that time he had
been called to the colored home so
he soon traced the source, tho no
one knew how the colored child
contracted it, and of course Aunt
Matildy was heart broken over it
Jail.
The families were quarantined y
but one by one all the children of
those households came down with
the dreaded disease. The oldest
girl in the first household was the
last to succumb - she remembers
the day she sat by the fire, wrap
ped in blanket, freezing, all but
her throat, which seemed on fire!
The next thing she remembers
about that illness was days later,
when her father took her on his
knee and tried to get her to sing
20, Dem Golden Slippers" and all
she could do was to whisper it.
Dimly she recalled the night her
mother walked the floor and wrung
her hands tho all of her family
were recovering later the girl
realized that was the day their
neighbors lost one of their boys =
the strongest, most promising one
- the one who had serious handi-
cap survived.
! Now this is a true unvarnished
story = for the writer was that
"oldest girl" and any number of
people in the Norbeck region will
recall the time - how we feared
that disease - for we were told
that unlike measles and chicken
pox, we could have it again!
That was before we had immuni-
cation - the Schick test = or any
Public Health Program - you may
say that could not happen now -
but are not many things happening
today that only a year or two ago
we thought impossible in this age
of enlightenment?
! There are other diseases that
threaten US - did not tuberculosis
take a slight upward trend just
this past year - and we still have
many children in the county who
have not been immunized against
our old enemy.
That you may not think US mere
ly sentimental and an abecedarian
1--WE got that $500 word from the
new dictionary our spouse gave us
Christmas) we will mention several
other things needed for good health
in even the remotest country vii
lagos - we need to have our septic