True Stories From History and Biography by Nathaniel Hawthorne Page A

benevolent men had plotted the
ruin of the country.
    The people, also, took the alarm. Many, who thought themselves more pious
than their neighbors, contended, that, if Providence had ordained them to
die of the small pox, it was sinful to aim at preventing it. The strangest
reports were in circulation. Some said, that Doctor Boylston had contrived
a method for conveying the gout, rheumatism, sick headache, asthma, and
all other diseases, from one person to another, and diffusing them through
the whole community. Others flatly affirmed that the Evil One had got
possession of Cotton Mather, and was at the bottom of the whole business.
    You must observe, children, that Cotton Mather's fellow citizens were
generally inclined to doubt the wisdom of any measure, which he might
propose to them. They recollected how he had led them astray in the old
witchcraft delusion; and now, if he thought and acted ever so wisely, it
was difficult for him to get the credit of it.
    The people's wrath grew so hot at his attempt to guard them from the small
pox, that he could not walk the streets in peace. Whenever the venerable
form of the old minister, meagre and haggard with fasts and vigils, was
seen approaching, hisses were heard, and shouts of derision, and scornful
and bitter laughter. The women snatched away their children from his path,
lest he should do them a mischief. Still, however, bending his head
meekly, and perhaps stretching out his hands to bless those who reviled
him, he pursued his way. But the tears came into his eyes, to think how
blindly the people rejected the means of safety, that were offered them.
    Indeed, there were melancholy sights enough in the streets of Boston, to
draw forth the tears of a compassionate man. Over the door of almost every
dwelling, a red flag was fluttering in the air. This was the signal that
the small pox had entered the house, and attacked some member of the
family; or perhaps the whole family, old and young, were struggling at
once with the pestilence. Friends and relatives, when they met one another
in the streets, would hurry onward without a grasp of the hand, or
scarcely a word of greeting, lest they should catch or communicate the
contagion. And, often a coffin was borne hastily along.
    "Alas, alas!" said Cotton Mather to himself. "What shall be done for this
poor, misguided people? Oh, that Providence would open their eyes, and
enable them to discern good from evil!"
    So furious, however, were the people, that they threatened vengeance
against any person who should dare to practise inoculation, though it were
only in his own family. This was a hard case for Cotton Mather, who saw no
other way to rescue his poor child Samuel from the disease. But he
resolved to save him, even if his house should be burnt over his head.
    "I will not be turned aside," said he. "My townsmen shall see that I have
faith in this thing, when I make the experiment on my beloved son, whose
life is dearer to me than my own. And when I have saved Samuel,
peradventure they will be persuaded to save themselves."
    Accordingly, Samuel was inoculated; and so was Mr. Walter, a son-in-law of
Cotton Mather. Doctor Boylston, likewise, inoculated many persons; and
while hundreds died, who had caught the contagion from the garments of the
sick, almost all were preserved, who followed the wise physician's advice.
    But the people were not yet convinced of their mistake. One night, a
destructive little instrument, called a hand-grenade, was thrown into
Cotton Mather's window, and rolled under Grandfather's chair. It was
supposed to be filled with gunpowder, the explosion of which would have
blown the poor minister to atoms. But the best-informed historians are of
opinion, that the grenade contained only brimstone and assaf[oe]tida, and
was meant to plague Cotton Mather with a very evil perfume.
    This is no strange thing in human experience. Men, who attempt to do the
world more good, than the world is able entirely to comprehend,