Epidemics Of The Past

I have been thinking of epidemics of the past. Many I do not remember, but being from a family that saved many things, I do have letters written by family members of the past that refer to some of those times. Of course, this was mostly in letter form. It just crossed my mind that many young children of today are not going to have any record of these times, as most all of our communication is via the Internet or maybe phone.

Some of the correspondence from my family refers to the diphtheria outbreak and the people that died, leaving young children behind. Some papers of the time were often referred to “Letters Edged in Black.” These were the obituary notices.

Maybe some remember stories from large families, when many siblings got to have their living quarters in the barn, hopefully the loft. This seemed too often to be the quarantine location for the healthy siblings.

Of course, most of our ancestors were self sufficient when it came to food, and toilet paper did not seem to be an issue, so trips to the stores were not made very often. And just maybe all of that dirt we ate and all of the sunshine we soaked up were truly good for us.

Stay Safe, Stay Strong, and Trust in a Supreme ruler.