WWI advice for avoiding flu

Given the recent media focus on flu, I thought I would share this 96-year-old advice for avoiding the virus.

This comes from the October 26, 1918 issue of The New Hampshire newspaper, under control of the US government and the Students Army Training Corps.  By this point in October, the Spanish Flu epidemic was mostly passed, but it had already killed ten student soldiers in the New Hampshire College SATC camp. The college had to delay its opening to the Officers Division of the SATC and non-soldier students until October 7, and women were not allowed on campus until October 15.  All students had to be inspected for signs of "grippe" before they could register.

I got an email from UNH the other day warning me to take precautionary measures against the flu, telling me to stay home and not go to classes if I felt sick.  I immediately thought of this advice to "avoid work." 

As an archaeology side note - during my summer excavation of the SATC barracks site with the anthropology department, I found this medicine bottle dating to 1918, which I can only assume was associated with some soldier recovering from the flu.

College newspaper humor: April 1918

                                                    

Here are a couple jokes from the April 27, 1918 edition of The New Hampshire newspaper, which was published by New Hampshire College (now the University of New Hampshire).  The newspaper didn't have a specific humor section; instead, jokes were spread throughout the paper.  I assume they were used to fill any empty space in the print.

I particularly like the first one because, as a knitter, I'm pretty sure I've accidentally hit a few people.  I imagine this girl was knitting something for the Red Cross - in fact, just before the war's end, the college actually began drafting female students for Red Cross work.

However, it's also nice to see people making fun of English grammar throughout history.