Just another day in the nineteenth century

So I had a fun day today at the American Antiquarian Society.  I don't have time to post everything, but I'll share a few highlights from the day's diggings:

I got an issue of Life in Lowell, a newspaper from 1843.  Here's the front page:

And just in case you wanted to know just how gnarly things were back then, check out this fabulous list of possible ailments (and thankfully, Dr. F. Morrill claims he can cure them all!).

So that's:

• Coughs
• Diarrhea Gravel (WHAT???? OK, I just looked that one up and it's two different things: Diarrhea [which I assume you understand] and "gravel" which is basically kidney stones.  So hey, nineteenth-century typesetter, how about a comma in there?]
• Rheumatism
• Female Debility
• Glandular Affections
• Effects of Mercury
• Strictures
• Piles
• Diseases of the Skin
• Cholera Morbus
• Scrofula
• all the various forms of Secret Diseases

 Truly, I can't believe anyone made it out of the nineteenth century alive.  Don't even google those.  You really don't want to know what scrofula looks like.

And if you are afflicted by ailments of the unspeakable sort, Dr. Merrill's other ad is addressed to you:

But perhaps most awesome was the broadside included along with it, memorializing the Fourth of July Parade held in Lowell in 1845.  It was in pretty rough shape (I am guessing it was actually somehow "restored" or "preserved" using a method that has only served to make it deteriorate more), but the images are still great.  I particularly like that it calls itself "A Family Newspaper -- Neutral in Politics and Religion -- Devoted to Literature, Education, Science, General Intelligence, and Amusements."  Awesome!  So basically it recounts the various groups/parties/individuals who participated in the annual parade, with fairly silly pictures of each, and quite a bit of commentary.

The reverse side was in even worse condition, but my attention was arrested by this particular pictogram:

Yes, Lucy Marshal!  Awesome!

OK, there's lots more, but much of it is in some very bad handwriting that I'll have to transcribe. Stay tuned for more Tales from the Nineteenth Century (TM).