Fever 1793 - SharpSchool

1 SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERSAn imprint of Simon & Schuster Children s Publishing Division1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people,or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are theproduct of the author s imagination, and any resemblance to actual eventsor locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely copyright 2000 by Laurie Halse AndersonAll rights reserved including the right of reproductionin whole or in part in any SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERSis a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureaucan bring authors to your live event.

2 For more information or to book an event,contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049or visit our website at available in a hardcover design by Steve ScottThe text for this book is set in Adobe in the United States of America26 28 30 29 27 The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:Anderson, Laurie 1793 / by Laurie Halse : In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separatedfrom her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance whenshe is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow Fever 978-0-689-83858-3 (hc)[1. Yellow Fever Pennsylvania Philadelphia Fiction.]

3 2. Epidemics Pennsylvania History 1775-1865 Fiction. 4. Philadelphia (Pa.) Survival Fiction.] I. 2000 [Fic] dc21 00-032238 ISBN 978-0-689-84891-9 (pbk)eISBN-13: 978-1-4424-4307-5 This book is for my father,Reverend Frank A. Halse Jr,the finest man I know. ONE: August 16th, 1793 CHAPTER TWO: August 16th, 1793 CHAPTER THREE: August 16th, 1793 CHAPTER FOUR: August 16th, 1793 CHAPTER FIVE: August 24th, 1793 CHAPTER SIX: August 30th, 1793 CHAPTER SEVEN: August 30th, 1793 CHAPTER EIGHT: September 2nd, 1793 CHAPTER NINE: September 2nd, 1793 CHAPTER TEN: September 6th, 1793 CHAPTER ELEVEN: September 7th, 1793 CHAPTER TWELVE: September 8th, 1793 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: September 10th, 1793 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: September I2th-20th, 1793 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: September 22nd, 1793 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: September 24th, 1793 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: September 24th, 1793 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

4 September 25th, 1793 CHAPTER NINETEEN: September 26th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY: September 27th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: September 27th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: September 27th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: September 28th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: October 1st, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: October 14th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: October 23rd, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: October 30th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: November 10th, 1793 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: November 10th, 1793 EPILOGUE: December 11th, 1793 APPENDIXA cknowledgementsCHAPTER ONEA ugust 16th, 1793 The city of Philadelphia is perhaps one ofthe wonders of the world. Lord Adam GordonJournal entry, 1765I woke to the sound of a mosquito whining in my left ear and my mother screeching in the right.

5 Rouse yourself this instant! Mother snapped open the shutters and heat poured into our bedchamber. The room above ourcoffeehouse was not large. Two beds, a washstand, and a wooden trunk with frayed leather straps nearlyfilled it. It seemed even smaller with Mother storming around. Get out of bed, Matilda, she continued. You re sleeping the day away. She shook my shoulder. Polly s late and there s work to be done. The noisy mosquito darted between us. I started to sweat under the thin blanket. It was going to beanother hot August day. Another long, hot August day. Another long, hot, boring, wretched August day. I can t tell who is lazier, Polly or you, Mother muttered as she stalked out of the room.

6 When I wasa girl, we were up before the sun .. Her voice droned on and on as she clattered down the groaned. Mother had been a perfect girl. Her family was wealthy then, but that didn t stop her fromstitching entire quilts before breakfast, or spinning miles of wool before tea. It was the War, she liked toremind me. Children did what was asked of them. And she never complained. Oh, no, never. Goodchildren were seen and not heard. How utterly unlike yawned and stretched, then snuggled back onto my pillow. A few more minutes rest, that s what Ineeded. I d float back to sleep, drifting like Blanchard s giant yellow balloon.

7 I could just see it: thewinter s day, the crowds on the rooftops, the balloon tugging at its ropes. I held my breath. Would theropes break?The devilish mosquito attacked, sinking its needle-nose into my ! I leapt from my bed, and thunk! cracked my head on the sloped ceiling. The ceiling was lowerthan it used to be. Either that, or I had grown another inch overnight. I sat back down, wide awake now,my noggin sporting two lumps one from the ceiling, one from the balloon trips for work, then. I got to my feet and crossed the room, ducking my head cautiously. The water in thewashbasin was cloudy, and the facecloth smelled like old cheese.

8 I decided to clean up later, perhapsnext squeaking mouse dashed by my toes, followed by a flash of orange fur named Silas. The mouse ranto a corner, its claws scratching desperately on the floorboards. Silas pounced. The squeaking stopped. Oh, Silas! Did you have to do that? Silas didn t answer. He rarely did. Instead he jumped up on Mother s quilt and prepared to pick aparthis s best quilt. Mother abhorred sprang across the room. Get down! I hissed at me but obeyed, leaping to the floor and padding out the door. Matilda? Mother s voice called up the stairs. Now! I made a face at the doorway. I had just saved her precious quilt from disaster, but would sheappreciate it?

9 Of course more dawdling. I had to get fastened my stays and a badly embroidered pocket over the white shift I slept in. Then I stepped intomy blue linen skirt. It nearly showed my ankles. Along with the ceiling getting lower, my clothes wereshrinking, dressed, I faced the rather dead mouse and wrinkled my nose. Picking it up by the tail, I carriedthe corpse to the front window and leaned city, Philadelphia, was wide awake. My heart beat faster and my head cleared. Below thewindow, High Street teemed with horsemen, carriages, and carts. I could hear Mrs. Henning gossiping onher front stoop and dogs barking at a pig running loose in the sound of the blacksmith s hammer on his anvil reminded me of Polly, our tardy serving s where she was, no doubt; in the blacksmith s shop, eyeing Matthew, the blacksmith s son.

10 I didn tlike it there. The roaring furnace, sparks crackling in the air, the sizzle of hot metal into cold water it allreminded me of that unmentionable place the preachers liked to go on favorite place was the waterfront. I squinted eastward. The rooftop of the State House, where theCongress met, was visible, but the August haze and dust from the street made it impossible to see fartherthan that. On a clear day, I could see the masts of the ships tied up at the wharves on the Delaware promised myself a secret visit to the docks later, as soon as Polly arrived to distract few blocks south lay the Walnut Street Prison, where Blanchard had flown that remarkable the prison s courtyard it rose, a yellow silk bubble escaping the earth.