Woollies and Spanish Flu

From Illustrated London News, November 2nd 1918.

LADIES' NEWS.

A quest we are all on these days is for woollies—chiefly those to send to the men who are campaigning, for victories will not keep the dear things warm.  We can get the best for them if we can show that we want it for fighting men, for the chief output of the Wolsey manufacture is for the use of the Army and Navy.  A bellicose lady was arguing that her old man wanted it as badly as any soldier, because coal was so short and he could not fight to keep himself warm.  Another woman took up the challenge, and told her that but for the fighters, who had to be out in all weathers, her old man would have no grate to put coal in nor house to put a grate in.  This was conceded, and the pair proceeded to extol the merits of Wolsey; and finally some was found for the bellicose lady's old man. whereupon she was converted to peace, but neither a Hun nor a pro-Hun version of that blessing.

No one has one good word for the latest scourge, the "Spanish flu."  Spain will, it is said, break her neutrality if we go on calling it so.  Women go about handkerchief to nose and reeking of antiseptic; the two pet pastimes are sneezing and skipping—the first not caused by flu, but by the use of Kruschen Salts to prevent it by getting rid of the germs; the second by way of keeping warm in the healthiest way.  An impromptu sneezing party proved rather a frolic; the guests passed round the salts, sniffed, and sneezed into properly disinfected handkies in a disinfected room.  There may be developments with competitions, the best sneezer to get a prize; or, if members of the minority sex are present, bets might enliven the proceedings, which would certainly often become hilarious.  Jokes apart, there is no better preventive of the prevailing malady than a good sneezing fit once or twice a day.  It is not for the good of the community that it should be done at large...... discreet sneezing properly environed is to be encouraged, and no one need fear enemy influence in the Kruschen Salts ..... — it has been all British for 160 years, and continues to be so.

[This seems a remarkably flippant view of Spanish flu, given the huge number of people that died, world-wide.  Wikipedia suggests that in the countries involved in the war, reports in 1918 minimized the effects of the epidemic.  In Spain, which was neutral, reports were more accurate. and hence it seemed to be more virulent and deadly there - hence the name.]