The most common killers in the early 1900s, were pneumonia, tuberculosis, and diarrhea (< this one really surprised me!) About a third of the people died from these diseases. This is probably because of the lack of hygiene and medicine. It doesn’t say much about Mattie’s mother’s death, but I think that she died from one of these diseases. It seems pretty plausible. In the 1900s, there was also a huge problem contaminated food and water, so chances are she could have eaten bad food/water and gotten a disease that was incurable at the time. There was also a sewage disposal issue, which harbored bacteria of many kinds. Since she was at home all the time, there was probably a higher chance of her catching something from the air.
The sites where I got this amazing info... Check it out!! especially the second one.
http://stay-healthy-enjoy-life.blogspot.com/2008/04/causes-of-death-2005-versus-1900.html
http://www.uky.edu/Classes/PHI/350/cod.htm
I think women died for many different reasons back then than they do today, but when Maddie and her aunt were talking at her aunts house, they refereed to Margret Pruyn as having the same illness as her mother died from (breast cancer). It is really sad to think of loosing their main source of support in the family. I wonder how long ago the mother died from when she started working at the Glenmore because the girls don't seem to be nearly as affected as their father still is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrea about the fact that the girls don't seem to be as affected by the loss of the mother. However, Mattie continues to talk about a promise that she made to her mother that's stopping her from going to college...I think that it may have something to do with staying home to support her family. Also, medical equipment and knowledge was far less developed than it is now, so lots of people probably died of sicknesses.
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