One evening he came home unexpectedly, bringing the child as she was not
feeling well, and leaving her in Mrs. Rykeman's care. The baby and I
were dear friends, and, the next day, she being confined to Mrs.
Rykeman's rooms, I spent the afternoon trying to entertain her. Toward
night, as she was evidently very sick, a doctor was called in from
Brookline. The physician examined the little one and pronounced the
dreadful verdict that we had on our hands a case of virulent smallpox.
That was the beginning of the end. As Mrs. Ryekman and I had been
exposed to contagion, we were quarantined in her rooms and every
precaution was taken to prevent the spread of the disease. Neither Mrs.
Rykeman nor I had a single symptom of the disorder, but presently, other
cases appeared, one after another, and during the next few months, the
scourge ran through the community.
Thanks, no doubt, to the sturdy good health of our people, the invasion
by this enemy of mankind--and a terrible enemy the smallpox then
was--did not prove directly calamitous.
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