The cattle have a scourge, but the loss of money makes men active.
When the rinderpest appears, governors issue proclamations. When
horses show the glanders, quarantine is established. But when a
father's flock is cut off, it is done before he can move, and other
fathers will not or cannot interpose for their own protection.

All the other fathers do is to discount the worst--to dread the unseen
sword which is suspended over all heads.

When David Lockwin heard that one of his tenants had a child dead with
the contagion, the popular idol strove to recall his movements. Had he
been in the sick-room? Had Davy been in that region? The thought
which had finally alarmed Lockwin was the recollection that he had
stopped with Davy in the grocery beneath the apartments of the dying
child.

That was nine days before. Why is Dr. Tarpion absent? What a good
fortune, however, that Dr. Floddin can be given charge. And if the
disease be diphtheria, whisky will alleviate and possibly cure the
patient. It is a hobby with Lockwin.

Dr. Floddin has come rather oddly by this practice. Who he is, no
other regular doctor knows. But Dr. Floddin has an honest face, and
keeps a little drug store on State street below Eighteenth. He usually
charges fifty cents a visit, which is all he believes his services to
be worth. This piece of quackery would ruin his name with Lockwin,
were it known to him, or had Dr. Tarpion been consulted.

The regular fee is two dollars.