Whole families were confined by it. There was a
deficiency of nurses for the sick, and many of those who were
employed were unqualified for their business. There was likewise a
great deficiency of physicians, from the desertion of some and the
sickness and death of others. At one time there were only three
physicians able to do business out of their houses, and at this
time there were probably not less than six thousand persons ill
with the fever.
During the first three or four weeks of the prevalence of the
disorder, I seldom went into a house the first time without meeting
the parents or children of the sick in tears. Many wept aloud in my
entry or parlor, who came to ask advice for their relations. Grief
after a while descended below weeping, and I was much struck in
observing that many persons submitted to the loss of relations and
friends without shedding a tear, or manifesting any other of the
common signs of grief.
A cheerful countenance was scarcely to be seen in the city for six
weeks. I recollect once, on entering the house of a poor man, to
have met a child of two years old that smiled in my face.
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