If I visited any one, which I seldom did,
I always set on a bench or chair to pre
vent conveying or receiving contagion;
and before enteting the house I always
underwent tho preparation of being smo
ked in a box, which during the preva
lence of the plague is placed near its en
trance for that purpose. These boxs
were some eight feet high by three square,
the plJlform on which ihe feet rested ele
vated about a foot above the earth, so as
to admit under it a dish containing the in
gredients of the prophylactic, and a hole
in ihe door lo let the face out during the
smoking of tho clothes and body. Wo
procured our daily supply of provisions
from a Jiakkal, retail grocer, whose shop
was directly under our front window : an
itinerant Ekmekjer, or breadman, brought
our bread to the door; our vegetables
were procured from a gardener close by,
and our water we drew from a cistern un
der the house ; in fine, our food was eith
er smoked or saturated before wo touch
ed it, and every possible precaution ob
served to cut our Utile family olT from the
dreadful Bcourge, Mho pesulenco which
walkelh in darkness and the destruction
which wastelli at noon-day The moth-
er and daughter throughout the day spun
silk, knitted woolen suits or embroidered
kerchiefs for head dresses, called in Ho
maie fakiotee, and even to a late hour of
tho night they frequently continued the
samo employment, until the plague pre-
prevenieu the sale or their handiwork,
and their materials were all used un
All day long they would sit upon the sofa
oi ineir nine apartment, racing the street,
and while their hands toiled for a subsis
tence, tho widow's daughter hummed a
plaintive air, or occasionally broke the si
lence by conversing with her mother.
