LIFE GOES ON

 

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.

---------

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