Duty

Summary 

 People were constantly listening loud booms that came from not too far, the cause of these loud noises were cannons that were fired, because they wanted to follow the physicians suggestions, they said that gunpowder should be "flashed through the streets". Most of the people had already left the city, in fear that the fever might attack them. The food was running low, most farmers didnt want to give their food to the  city. All of  this caused that the prices were very expensive, so many people couldn´t even afford eating. Many people that died because of the illness weree thrown on the streets, so people demanded that they should be disposed correctly. On September 5th, a rumor began, the rumor was that black people were imune to the disease, which was not exactly true, but it seems that they had some kind of additional resistance to it, so they didn´t get the disease as commonly as white people did.

Quotes

"Orders had been issued to clean up the streets and patrol the wharves, but few people were around to carry out such orders. One day thirty ships arrived, thirteen of them from the West indies, but no one was available to stop them from docking or discharging passengers. The bodies of the indigent dead were carrted to the potter´s field and dumped, but no gravediggers were there to bury them." (37)

  This is the impact of the people leaving the city, it was causing that many labors didn´t get done, even though that these were orders sent by the mayor, or other important people. 

"It was clear that the fever was winning. People were still streaming from the city in droves;houses, houses, businesses, and shops were closed and dark; the sick;  dying. and dead were everywhere to be seen." (47)

 The quote shows how the people were feeling, the terrible situation of the time. It gives you a perfect image of the  abandoned houses, and how the city was silent and dark now.

Conclusion

We can clearly see the impact of the people leaving the city because of the disease. We can see how many labors can not be done without the people, and that it is becoming a lot more difficult to find a way to stop the disease and find a cure.