. London . CHEAPS1DE Wood Street, Cheapside, consisted of the master, a wholesalegrocer, his wife, five children, two maidservants, two appren-tices, a porter, and a boy. He sent the boy to his friends inthe country ; he gave the elder apprentice the rest of histime ; and he stationed his porter, Abraham, outside his door,there to sit night and day. Every window was closed, andnothing suffered to enter the house except at one upperwindow, which was opened to admit necessaries, but onlywith fumigation of gunpowder. At first the plague, whileit raged about Holborn, Fleet Street, and the Strand,
. London . CHEAPS1DE Wood Street, Cheapside, consisted of the master, a wholesalegrocer, his wife, five children, two maidservants, two appren-tices, a porter, and a boy. He sent the boy to his friends inthe country ; he gave the elder apprentice the rest of histime ; and he stationed his porter, Abraham, outside his door,there to sit night and day. Every window was closed, andnothing suffered to enter the house except at one upperwindow, which was opened to admit necessaries, but onlywith fumigation of gunpowder. At first the plague, whileit raged about Holborn, Fleet Street, and the Strand, camenot within the City. This careful man, however, fully ex- CHARLES THE SECOND 299 pected it, and when it did appear in July, he locked himselfup for good. Then they knew nothing except what theporter told them, and what they read in the Bills ofMortality. But all day long the knell never ceased to FLEET STREET Very soon all the houses in the street were infected andvisited except their own. And when every day, and allday long, he heard nothing but bad news, growing dailyworse, and when every night he heard the dismal bell and ;,oo LONDON the rumbling of the dead cart, and the voice of the bell-mancrying, Bring out your dead ! he began to give up all forlost. First, however, he made arrangements for the isolationof any one who should be seized. Three times a day theyheld a service of prayer ; twice a week they observed a dayof fasting; one would think that this maceration of theflesh was enough in itself to invite the plague. Every morn-ing the father rose early and went round to each chamberdoor asking how its inmates fared. When they replied Well, he answered Give God thanks. Outside, Abrahamsat all day long, hearing from every passer-by the news ofthe day which grew more and more terrifying, and passingit on to the upper window where it was received with a fieryfumigation. On
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbesantwa, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1892
