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When I was a small child I caught
every germ that came my way.
It is because of Mama’s nursing 
that I lived to write about it.
I succumbed to every illness 
in which I came in contact.

One of my older brothers caught the dreaded 
Scarlet Fever and then one after one
we all became ill. There were seven of us.

We were quarantined for seven weeks.
Before one child was better another was sick
and all the time Mama was caring for us
with no outside help.
She did it all with love
and a lot of common sense
in this day before antibiotics and
other magic drugs.

Mother took her skills into the homes
of her neighbors when the mothers
were laid low.

Two neighbor women sickened
when the flu was running wild.
My mama went to nurse them 
and stayed there.  Daddy kept
care of us.
She was devastated when the women
after she had nursed them back to semi-health
arose too soon to assume their accustomed duties,
relapsed and died. 

Of course she wasn’t paid a cent.
She though it was her duty to
help neighbors in their time of need.
There was only one doctor in
the sparsely settled community and
he couldn’t be everywhere.

Mama was especially happy
when she had a child to care for.
We had a bell beside our bed.
She would come at the first ring.
Mama insisted that we stay
right there in our sick bed
if we had the slightest fever and
she kept us there one more day
after the fever was gone, just to be sure.
She was remembering her good friends
who had risen too soon. 

I had pneumonia at six months
and again at nine years.
The doctor had no medicine to cure it.
It was that mom of mine who spent
day and night giving me the
best care she knew.

I remember mustard plasters.
She put them on strong and hot to pull
the fluid from my lungs.
And then when I was better
she brought Jello to my bedside
and spooned in the liquidy,
delicious treat.
There was no refrigeration on
our farm at the time and the 
gelatin could not set and hold
properly.  But I still remember its
cool goodness.

When we were sick it seemed,
our mom loved us most of all.
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