Life Goes On In The Time of Plague
This letter was written by an ancestor, Ephraim Shafer. He was born September 30, 1859, married
Melinda Koch and they had five children. The first two were twins. Born July 19, 1883, Mabel died when she was
just two years old. The other twin,
Miriam, was a comfort to Ephraim as his wife died October 20, 1898. Ephraim
lived a long and loving life.
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Hepburnville, Pa
Dec. 4th 1918
Mr. S. B. Shafer
Ridgeway, Ont.
Dear Brother,
I have been wanting
to write to you for a long time and will not put it off any longer now. You
have no doubt heard of Miriam's death, the shock of which has been as sudden to
me that I can't hardly believe it to be possible even now. She had been
employed as cashier and bookeeper for the "Guardian Life Insurance
Co." at Williamsport for nearly two years, she had a good position and
liked her job. But like thousands of other she was caught by the Influenza
epidemic which developed into pneumonia. She was boarding at the W.W.C.A. when
she took sick, she went to the Williamsport Hospital, and was there just one
week and one day, when she died on Nov. 9th. The shock of her death has
unnerved me, that I have not been able
to even write about it before now. This Influenza is getting to be a terrible
disease around here. Some of the schools in our township have been closed on
acc't of the teachers and scholars both being sick. Last week Lilian Albert,
Frank Solomon's oldest daughter, was buried. She died from the effects of the
same disease. She leaves two small children, one of them also being sick with
Influenza.
Isn't it strange that War and Pestilence nearly always go
together? Just now when almost everybody is rejoicing over the ending of the
war, I feel terribly despondent. I caught a severe cold and somehow it don't
want to let go of my system. Rheumatism is also bothering me a lot this fall.
It seems it never rains but it pours.
We had a nice fall weather for some time, pretty cold, but
not severe. We just finished hauling in our corn fodder yesterday. This evening
it is snowing a little for the first. Our corn crop was good this year, but
potatoes were only about one half of a crop. I must close now. Please write
soon.
Your Bro.
Eph. Shafer
