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Show drove men and women to all sorts of odd remedies. Fear and superstition J possessed everybody during this crisis and business everywhere was crippled' Yellow fever visited the United States in the seventies and the victims numbered thousands. If we remember rightly, practically all tf the inhabitants inhab-itants of Grenada, Miss., perished, and this was not an isolated case. Before frost came the scourge made its appearance ap-pearance as far north as Cairo, 111., and there was great alarm all over the country. coun-try. In a later year, through the sacrifice sacri-fice of life by members of the medical profession, it was discovered that the disease was carried by a certain mosquito mos-quito and other important facts were developed. Nowadays whenever eases of yellow fever appear the alarm is quickly sounded, the medical authorities at Washington get busy and the disease is checked before it becomes be-comes epidemic. The same is true of cholera and. the bubonic plague. The Spanish influenza, however, is something some-thing new and is not yet fully understood. under-stood. The thing to be done is to follow fol-low the advice of tho physicians and not take any chances of contagion. According to reports from General Pershing, the array in France has not suffered to any considerable ' extent from what is now popularly known as the "flu," and we believe it wil soou run its course in the United States. Just now, however, it is increasing, and we should all cheerfully put up with such inconveniences as are imposed by the health authorities until they get it under control and give the ' ' all clear" signal. At the same time-' we should not become panic-stricken and let our fears run away with our imagination. imagi-nation. Perhaps it would be well for the president to follow the example of his predecessor who occupied the executive execu-tive chair in 1S49, Millard Fillmore, and appoint a day of fasting and prayer, and ask God to "avert the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction de-struction that wasteth at noonday. ' ' It would at least show faith in the providence of the Almighty and tend to restore confidence in time of peril. FASTING AND PRAYER. Captain Howard J. Cole, U. S. A., now in Washington, is of the opinion that "spiritual solace for those who arc protesting against the closing of the churches might be found in a day of fasting and prayer similar to the one appointed by the president of the United States during the terrible epidemic epi-demic of cholera in 1849." The churches were closed in that year on account of the plague, and on August 3 the people prayed that God "avert the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction de-struction that wasteth at noonday." In an interview in the Post the army officer offi-cer gives the history of epidemics in the I'nited States. down to 1853. "Per-, haps the first of the frightful epidemics," epi-demics," says the captain, "was the visitation of yellow fever in 1793, when the malignant malady began in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, and reached out across the whole country. From 1806 to 1815 'spotted fever' showed its ugly self in awful form in every section after getting get-ting a grip on Massachusetts. Then in 1822 and in' 1833 returned the yellow fever pestilence in great, virulence. "In 1832 Asiatic cholera came from Canada to plague the American people. The United States never knew such a terrible visitation. Cholera came back again in 1819 and was a raging pestilence, pesti-lence, and all places of public resort were closed. It was then that tbe day of prayer was proclaimed by the president. presi-dent. "Again in 1853 panic and terror Bci.cl the land from a visitation Of yellow fever. The dread of contagion |