The Medicine Man and Remedies1989

nSometimes people ask me how I come up with subjects for these Country Living articles and I’m not really sure.  Things I hear and see just have a way of evoking old memories and just how this subject came up, I’m not sure.

As John and I sat on the sun porch early one morning we talked about the medicine man and his visits to this rural  area. How people knew he was to visit, we can’t recall, but he would arrive in his van-type truck.  Of course, I remember his visits to Geraldine while John remembers the Crossville visits — nevertheless, they were about the same.

He would open up the enclosed back of the truck to show the numerous bottles of concoction.  His main spiel would be at night, and country people would gather round to listen (no TV remember).  The people had to stand, of course.  Sometimes he would have some type entertainment — such as an organ grinder or some type music.  The he began his selling program.  These medicines would cure anything — or so he said.  They might even grow hair on a doorknob.

All size bottles of all sorts of tonics, elixirs, laxatives, cough syrup and potions advertised for women.  I remember one of tonics for women stated, “There’s a baby in every bottle.”  It seems that one was Lydia E. Pinkam’s Vegetable Compound.  The prices were 50 cents and one dollar.  All colors, too, but mostly dark colors.  Whether the medicines worked or not, I don’t now, but the medicine man was very popular in that day.

I have a small collection of old medicine now, one is called Lix-A-Tol, I think for coughs, another is just called a cough medicine.  One is a 666 Tonic and one is Dr. Caldwell’s Senna laxative.  There was not an ailment at this house that my folks thought couldn’t be cured by taking a purgative.  For Sis it was powdered Black Draught, but ay the time I came along there was little pink pill that did the job.

There were all kinds of home remedies in earlier days.  When my sister’s children were small, she kept a mixture of vinegar and soda for bee stings.  Her little ones enjoyed catching flying insects and were always getting stung.

Another old remedy we talked about was mullein cough syrup.  The fuzzy mullein leaves were boiled, strained and honey added so it could be used for cough syrup.  Mullein leaves were also supposed to be good for sprained ankles.  In my book, nothing beats brown paper soaked in vinegar for sprained ankles.

Sassafras tea was a must to drink in the spring — it removed winter impurities.

Egg whites were used to draw a “boil” to a head.  Sulphur and grease were used for the itch and poultices (pronounced po’lices) were a dreaded medication for colds and coughing.  I hated that smelly concoction of Vick’s Salve, turpentine and whatever else was available to rub on the cloth to be pinned to nightclothes.

And another thing — fresh chicken dung was supposed to be good for chapped lips.  It might not cure them, but it would keep one from licking the lips.

The remedy for shingles wins the prize.  Take the blood of a black hen (it’s hard on the hen), apply it to the shingles and leave it on over night.  The next morning when it’s washed off the shingles will be gone (or so the story goes).  Now if you believe this, I own some ocean-front lots in Montana I’d like to sell you.

God is still in control, we still have seven days in a week, and 60 minutes in an hour, but that is about all that remains the same from the old days. It’s called “progress”, but whether you believe it or not — it’s still country living.