Sunday, March 21, 2021

"It don't do a bit of good."

New Salem, Illinois, 2015 (Photo by Tony Galati)

     "It don't do a child a bit of good," a neighbor unconvinced of the worth of vaccination told Abraham Lincoln. "I had a child vaccinated once, and in three days it fell out of a window and broke its neck."
     A reminder that the same ignorance that is a pervasive national problem today was also a problem more than 150 years ago. People never change.
     Speaking of which, the story is untrue. During Lincoln's time, any half humorous remark was given a bit of extra oomph by attaching it to the famously jocular president. Joseph Howard of the Brooklyn Eagle admitted to making up the story, according to Paul M. Zall, in his enjoyable, "Abe Lincoln's Legacy of Laughter."   
     At least Howard admitted the lie. There's hope then.

Photo by Tony Galati





      

7 comments:

  1. Admitting lies is so nineteenth century. Better look for hope elsewhere.

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  2. Reminds me of a joke I once saw in an old movie, in which one of the characters watching a pool game mentions that he plans to adopt a health regimen: eat sensibly, exercise more and worry less. A wise guy pipes up about his uncle who religiously followed such a regimen, but it didn’t do him any good as he had just died a couple weeks before at age 35. Disheartened, the first character exits the pool hall and the wise guy adds, “Yeah, my uncle got run over by a truck.”

    John

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    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure they used that joke on an episode of "The Odd Couple" (the TV version, of course).

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  3. I overheard two women (60 years old or so) in the Jewel yesterday and one was agreeing with the other that “if you go to a doctor they’ll always find something wrong with you just so they can keep
    taking your money.”

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    1. Funny thing--my doctor (fairly young and who replaced my long-time physician, who was about my age) usually dismisses my complaints about aches and pains, and tells me not to worry and that I'm doing fine for an old geezer. That might be because Medicare and health insurance make me less profitable. Or maybe I need to find another doctor.

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