Evening star., 1955-07-17
BY sELWA ROOSEVELT

Cholera plague hits George
town"
These were the headlines
back in the early l800's as re-
vealed in a letter written by
Miss Ann Shaaff, daughter of
a prominent Georgetown ply
sician, to Harriet Addison. her
cousin living at Cole Brooke.
an Addison estate in Prince
Georges County. which was
destroyed BY fire in 1910.
OF the plague Miss Schaaff
writes:
"As you are most anxious to
know about the cholera, I can
only tell you I feel 1t has been
very bad here. and Is not. as
perhaps you think, confined
to the lower streets. / have
heard Of more cases In the
high parts of town than the
other. There have been cases
all around us the, paper
reports 48 deaths for the past
week a great mortality
for this place, so healthy as 1t
generally Is.
Eat Rice
"You will be surprised to
hear that ! am not so much
alarmed. We are careful
in abstaining from what 10
prohibited and confne our
selves principally TO rice ana
meat. Thursday was kept in
the Presbyterian Church as a
day Of fasting and prayer on
account of the cholera. -.
"Mr. Brooke (the pastor)
tells us that Christians ought
to improve this visitation OF
the Almighty by praying it to
be made the means of our
sanctification and of bringing
sinners to the knowledge Of
Jesus Christ. Although Chris
tians may pray to have it re-
moved, yet the Lord will an
swer their prayers in the way
He sees best"
This Is one Of 48 letters
which Miss Schaatf wrote to
her cousin during the years
1919 through 1841. The letters
have been carefully preserved
by the descendants Of Harriet
Addison, and one of them, Mr..
Guy Castle, now has them in
his possession. This is the
first time any Of them have
been made public.
Except for such things as
the cholera plague. and GER
tain archaic expressions and
superstitions in the letters,
many could have been written
by a young girl Of today.
The world Of beaux, we'd
dings. trips. births and deaths
all continue In much the
same way. Only the charac-
ters are different.
Ghosts Of the famous fam.
lilies Of that era-the Taneys,
Lees, Masons. Peters, the Ring
colds and the Keys - are
brought back to life with their
foibles and accomplishments
through Ann Schaaff's chron-
icles Of daily doings over two
decades ago.
Always . Bridesmaid
Miss SchaaR (who was al
ways O bridesmaid-never q
bride) was much taken with
the subject Of weddings.
Describing the wedding Of
Sally Smith, believed to be the
daughter Of Gen. Walter
Smith, q wealthy Georgetown
importer. she writes:
when we entered tn e
chamber, she (the bride) was
sitting before one of the
mirrors in corsets and petit
coats, .chemise ruined around
the bosom, and ruffies edged
with the finest Of lace, with
q French hairdresser tugging
and raising puff upon pun.
She was laughing and as
merry as a grie. You never
would have dreamed there
was q maid on the eve Of
matrimony. Never did ]
see such a bride as Sally. She
said she had been trying to
get up a little agitation all
day but had not been able to
succeed"
Gossip About Pastors
Much of Miss Schaaff's life
seemed to be taken up with
church doings and gossip
about the various pastors.
"Our beloved pastor has
arrived" she writes. "all in
a f1utter Of love and looking
sick scared. When he knows
how many broken hearts this