Document text
r
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Check one)
PUB. Living Lore in
New England
TITLE Shoe Laster of Lynn 45
WRITER Jane K. Leary
DATE 5/24/39 MVS. PP. 4
CHECKER DATE
SOURCES GIVEN 04terview James Ruebas
COMMENTS
Name: Jane K. Leary, 32 Acorn St.
Information: James Hughes, 51 Johnson St.
Assignment: The Shoe Laster of Lynn.
q10,
The Influenza Epidemic
£.1.--e".--f ->7
Page 1
5/24/39
"Well, how ya bin sence?
"Sence I seen ya last, we've bin hevin' a bit
a spreng weather. Tame, ain't it? We hed a long
cold spreng.
"An' ain't thiere bin a lotta sickness though?
I niver seen the laike a all the pneumonia thierets
bin. Ant most inybody thet ya see on the stratets
tstrere.t4 got a cold.
"But at thet, it ain't sa biad laike I knowed it
ta brtmlnyls the tame in Lynn sence I come hire. D'ya
remimber the flu thet come the time a the war? Alwiays
a war brengs somethint an I alwiays thought thet flu
wuzn't jest the flu. It wuz more laike the buabatic
pli-ague (1441bibilid,411040. Anywiays a lotta thim
thet daied a it, tirned black, jest laike thiey wuz
said ta heve timed, black in Ireland in '46 ant '47
whin thi4 hed the bumbatic pliague there.
"Thra (three) months the rage a it wuz hire in
this city. Down in Philadelphia ant aroul thet wiay,
w
I hierd it wuz a lot the worse, Thiere I guess thiey
see,
...da1444-11eHar-Vhnnrir
"Wuz-atd-wnetter-bi-eve-tpoo.. The paople wuz scared
iverywhi;re. Most iverybody wore a bag with somethin
in it ta pravent tpreY/ en -t4 gettint it. Somethinl laike
moth balls thiey wuz thet wuz in that bag. I wore one
laike all the rest.
"Iverybody wuz adrekin' whiskey too ta prAvent it.
I balave 044004 it helped too, Inywi.yit did Ma.
wuz in Boston whin I felt it comipl on mi. I
took a coupla drenks ant ya know I hardly felt 'em
atall. my other tame ant I'da bin afeelin' good
from the drenks I took, but thim I didn't feel atall.
"Whin I got ta Inn, .L took a couple more, an'
thim I din't feel neither. Jest laike I niver heda one.
Whin I get home, I said to ma wife, 'I got the flu an'
whin I get in bed, I went ya ta give mg some more a
this whiskey ta drank.
110=140= an' did I sweat/ I'hed ta kape
changinl mi naightclothes two, thr; tames. But ya
know, it done the trick all raight. I wuz a lot
better in the mornin'.
"I had ta kape awiay from the shop fir about a
wake ty though, an' sure felt wake fir
about a month. But I din't daivt144 laike a lotta
others did. I thenk it wuz thet whiskey that staved
ma.
"Whin I wint back ta wirk, thiere wuz only about
.so•
four min in the renk isimi4 whin there shoulda bin
aroun' fifteen. Thiey wuz all sick with the flu.
Thim thet wuz thiere looked at ma whin I come in in'
said, 'You're as pale as a ghost.'"
Consumption in the Shoe Shops.
n the old diays tinre wuz an awful lotta
consumption in the shops. Thin, the doctors said thetlItAt
disease run in families. Ant I bal;ve it does. Iny-
wiays thin, thiey dintt do nothint about it, fir there
wuziatt the hospitals ant the laike ta tiake care a
4)/ thim. So most of thim fellas thet hed it, jest kept
JPNICI-
raight on wirkint jest as ?tong as thiey could. Miny's
the one tould spit up bllod sometames, but thiey
kept on wirkint.
"I knowed one fella that wirked at the bench with
mi, thet hed it ant hed it'biad. But he dintt play
no spAcial attintion ta it. He wuz alwiays cheerful.
Well, one diay he hed a hemorrhage raight thiere
bZfore us. Thiey took him home ant the next diay he
"Yes, thigre wuz a lot laike that. A body thet
dintt hove it, dintt thenk thiere wuz my hope atall
fir inybody thet hed the consumption. But the one
thet hed it wuz alwiays cheerful ant tould try ta
miake Eralave ie dintt heve it atall.
"Thetts uhe wiay with thim. But I bal-ave it runs
in families. Don't you?