DOCTORS BAGS & TRAVEL KITS

Kit #1			Kit #2
Kit #3A	Kit #3B	Kit #3C	Boricke-Tafel
Kit #4A	Kit #4B	Kit #4C
Searle A	Searle B	Doc's Case

"PROTECT US, 0 GOD, FROM DIPHTHERIA!" THESE RINGING WORDS uttered by my father at morning prayers were my first introduction to the tragedy of diseases. The atmosphere in our home that morning was tense. Father and mother ate no breakfast, and we children, not knowing why, left the large platter of fried mush, which usually quickly disappeared, practically untouched. Soon father left home dressed in his Sunday clothes. Mother, pale and silent, continued to walk the floor, wringing her hands and going to the window now and then to look down the road. I followed and looked up and down the road too, but saw nothing. Some hours later a long line of teams came slowly down that road. Driving the lead team, a strange one, was my father, and beside him sat a man I did not know. In the bed of the farm wagon were three oblong boxes. Following were spring wagons, farm wagons, and a large number of men on horseback. Questions directed to my mother brought no answer. Father returned home after many hours and cryptically announced as he came in the door: "Five more." Mother sank into a chair and covered her face with her apron.

As days wore on I learned that the wagon had borne the coffins containing the bodies of three of my playmates. Five more followed in quick succession. . . . "

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