“I have a description of what they’ve done in other places. You just cut a little slit in the skin of the upper arm, put the string in the slit, wrap it so it won’t fall out, and that’s all. The cut is not any bigger than when we bleed patients, and shouldn’t hurt much.”

Henry finally agreed, and Railston got some of the pus from Miss Norma and carried out the procedure on their wives and on himself. Within a few days Sophie and later Mrs. Railston had developed slight infections, but the doctor had not. The day that Miss Norma died, Railston had to inform Henry that Sophie had a high fever, and a deep red rash had developed on her face and neck.

“What does this mean?” Henry asked Railston.

“I’m afraid it’s the most serious kind of pox. I think my wife is responding to the variolation and I probably had some pox as a boy. We’ll just have to keep Sophie comfortable and pray that she’ll be all right. Judging by how far it has already advanced, it’s pretty clear that her disease came from the original exposure to Miss Norma, and not from the inoculation.”

Henry wanted to be with Sophie, but the doctor induced him to limit his visits to talking through the window of the room where she lay. She struggled to talk and to keep his spirits up, but her throat felt clogged and, to Henry, her few words didn’t seem quite rational. He carried a chair to the house and sat on the front porch, refusing to go home even to eat. The doctor brought him some biscuits, side meat, and milk, and gave him periodic reports on Sophie’s condition, which grew increasingly serious.

When she finally died and was quickly buried, Henry closed the shop and stayed inside for three days, except for a brief burial ceremony that was attended by only a few of his customers. He refused to talk to Dr. Railston, who shared his grief. Then he forgave the doctor and plunged into an orgy of work, but the lighthearted discussions around his shoemaker’s bench were missing. There was an unprecedented element of bitterness in his comments, increasingly concentrated on the government forces that tended to control at least a portion of his life. He finally wrote a disjointed letter about what had happened and sent it to his family in Philadelphia, not much caring whether it ever arrived.

CHAPTER 4

The Regulators

FALL 1766

During an extended period without any letters from Henry, Ethan sent several messages to his brother, asking for advice on when they should join him. After the family received the brief letter telling of Sophronia’s death, Ethan decided to leave Philadelphia. As quickly as possible, and over the continuing objections of his father, Ethan and Epsey moved to North Carolina.