Jim Murphy > Quotes

“Sometimes...I lose myself in looking back upon the ocean which I have passed, and now and then find myself surprised by a tear in reflecting upon the friends I have lost, and the scenes of distress that I have witnessed, and which I was unable to relieve.

—Dr. Benjamin Rush”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“The fire was barely fifteen minutes old. What followed was a series of fatal errors that set the fire free and doomed the city to a fiery death.”
― Jim Murphy, The Great Fire

“Simply calling the Great Fire an accident did not satisfy some people, most notably the local newspapers. They demanded a culprit--”
― Jim Murphy, The Great Fire

“...a single tongue of flame shooting out the side of the O'Learys' barn.
(Where the fire started)”
― Jim Murphy, The Great Fire

“I ignored them, mostly because I had no idea what I should say and I didn’t want to make the situation worse.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“Historians now estimate that as many as 20,000 people abandoned the city during the fever.”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“Instead, I’ve got the Hewitt boys down on paper. So that 100 years from now some reader I don’t know can see how dumb they were!”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“August 23, 1793. (THE LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA)”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“Philadelphia was then the largest city in North America, with nearly 51,000 inhabitants”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“Somewhere along the way I told myself to be confident. Sell yourself, Sarah Jane. Like Mr. Walter Chalmers sells his bitters.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“right”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“I run a good, honest establishment, so I’m not worried,” she said, looking very worried.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“Wrote that last entry in a running scribble that looks like a foreign language backward. If anybody reads it in the future, they will surely need good, thick glasses.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“So our march was suddenly a swerving parade that looked as if we’d all been helping Mr. Bock with his still.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“No one knew that a killer was already moving through their streets with them, an invisible stalker that would go house to house until it had touched everyone, rich or poor, in some terrible way.”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“I said something to Carl about the snow, but he wasn’t much concerned. Maybe he figured if I got lost and died in the snow he could escape school a while longer.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“His concern focused on a series of illnesses that had struck his patients throughout the year—the mumps in January, jaw and mouth infections in February, scarlet fever in March, followed by influenza in July. “There was something in the heat and drought,” the good doctor speculated, “which was uncommon, in their influence upon the human body.”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“At one point, Ida wondered if the board would get me a new school if this one burned down. “By accident, of course,” she said quickly.
Fire would solve a lot of that building’s problems.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“The sickness began with chills, headache, and a painful aching in the back, arms, and legs. A high fever developed”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“Sarah Jane, do you always have to be the teacher?” she asked and then immediately added, “I already know the answer so you don’t have to answer that.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“And that I found cleaning very peaceful and relaxing.
Mrs. Bock’s lips twitched ever so slightly when I said that. Almost as if she wanted to give up a smile. “Well, Sarah Jane,” she said, gesturing toward the mounds of laundry against a wall. “If it is peace and relaxation you want, we have piles of it here.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“Washington was then president of the United States, and Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the young nation and the center of its federal government.”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“Mrs. Bock told me to take the trail out of town, then go right and the Huftalens’ farm was “just up a piece.” Even with snow on the ground, her directions were fairly easy to follow. In fact, the only trouble with had was that I went over a hill and there was Johnnie Hatter out a ways with a small, furry creature wriggling in his arms. Probably trying to kill dinner, I thought. Which made me hasten my step along, I can tell you.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“Dead animals were routinely tossed into this soup, where everything decayed and sent up noxious bubbles to foul the air.”
― Jim Murphy, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

“I was so nervous I didn’t even sit down. I think because I wanted to be ready to run away if I had to.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“The next time she scolded me, I said if I cleaned the table any more I would take the color out of the wood and Miss Kizer snapped back, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness and don’t you forget it.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher

“Mr. Gaddis admitted the school wasn’t much to look at before dropping the first match and lighting another. “But it’s better than nothing.”
It is nothing! I screamed. Inside my head, of course. And I might even have said it out loud except I was too shocked to open my mouth. Johnnie Hatter’s hole in the riverbank is probably better than this.”
― Jim Murphy, My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher