Variations on the same model

(Strong measures have been taken to prevent plague and cholera from entering the country.)
“O my God! plague… look, it’s plague!!”
“Iencuțu, don’t you know me anymore?… it’s me, Mother Smara!…”
(A dig at Smaranda Gheorghiu, a Romanian writer and feminist from a noble landowning family who frequently traveled abroad and sometimes published under the moniker “Mother Smara.”)
(Furnica, Bucharest, 1908)