June1, 2020. Madison, Mississippi. The History Books.

During times of difficulty, knowing something of history is a major asset. If all you know is what is happening in front of your eyes you could think that the sky really was falling. Samuel Peppy wrote perhaps the best known diary of all times. He lived and wrote about the plague of 1605. He lived in the square mile in London and when the death tole got to 1000 deaths a week, he decamped to Greenwich. His wife and servant had already departed to the country but in another direction. He called his time during the plague a "merry little plague". Greenwich was a resort town, down the Thames River from London. It was also the head of the navy and as he was the secretary of the navy he was familiar with the players. As he wife was jealous, he enjoyed himself in Greenwich. Really, it is all in the diary. I am not making it up. The plague was terrible but the society recovered, much more quickly than anticipated. He records it all in his diary. He was pleased with the recovery and records that he was hoping for fair sailing. But what he found out was the fires to come in London which destroyed St. Paul's Cathedral. It helps today to know that the good people of London survived and thrived during and after their plague of 1605. For us, our virus seems to be a terribly disruption in our lives. But other societies had it worse and they survived. We thought we were in a big mess but now we know that we are in a bigger mess. Now the cities are burning just as it did in London. There is no reason to panic. It has all happened before. Just read Samuel Peppy's diary.