The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-04-13
The Red Pepper.


The Red Pepper.
What ais the human throat in this
latter day, and what has become of the
red pepper? Men who
are now forty years old knew little of
throat troubles in their boyhood. There
was u little sore throat occasionally,
and once in while quinsy, and you
would hear at long intervals of putrid
sore throat Children were not as
daintily cared for in those days as now.
Few of them ever had Undertaking to
wear, and scarcely a boy who had an
Overcoat till he was old enough to earn
the money for it himself Group was
the parental horror of that day, and
yet as alum and butter were early
found sure remedy for that trouble,
warping or contracting and so breaking
the false membrane as it was forming,
parents had no great dread of that.
Children had few colds, and no serious
sore throat-and when they had, bowl
of red-pepper tea sent the ailing boy to
bed sweating, and brought him out well
in the morning.
The red pepper of our grandmothers-
what has become of it? Who that lived
in those sensible days does not Eemem-
Der the SHINING string of alternate red
and green peppers that hung from the
rafters over the kitchen fire, and which
had been planted, raised and strung by
grandmother own hand, and hung
in the place of honor, all to cure the
children's colds, COLES and cramps, and
the older folks COMPOSITIONS and chills
death to all the c's. And who does not
remember how perfectly the pepper ac-
complished its wOrk-a little hard to
take, little hot after it was down,
and yet bringing you out all right in
the morning, and lending a halo of
pride to grandma S face at the break
fast table that the puzzled face of the
modern doctor seldom shares. All, it
was a rare old magic-the red pepper
that the grandmothers raised and used.
1t cured all the juvenile ills we have
enumerated and many more. So great
and quick was its magic that many a
boy, who had such a sore attack of collie,
Group or cold that he was sure he
couldn't go to school, was cured at the
mere sight or smell of its steaming tea,
and sent bounding off to school as sound
as triyet and as merry as a cricket.
Indeed, sudden cures have been known
at the mere mention of it. Older peO-
pie, too, men who were a little afraid
of working out all day in the damp or
of digging in a well, and who now think
whisky the medium of warding off pos
sible chills; were often saved by grand
mothers red-pepper tea.
What has become of the red pepperF
And how did it happen that just as it
went out of fashion diphtheria came in,
and with it a dozen other throat dis
with long and mysterious names
and none of which medical science,
which has made the slowest progress of
all the sciences, is able to treat with
much success? Our grandmOthers kept
the young and old threats of their gen
Grafton cured up with red and cayenne
pepper and warded Oft many other dis
eases with them. What, since they
have disappeared, has taken their place,
or is doing their work? Something,
whateve it is, that doesn't cure.
A gentleman who was a boy thirty
years ago, said yesterday: The reason
there is so much diphtheria is because
people have quit raising the red pepper"
The man he was talking to had a sore
throat, and was trying to stave it off till
night, with some of the gargles and
washes of the later day, so as to get his
days work done, and yet was growing
worse all the time. The apostle of the
red pepper said: Throw that stuff
away and send out and get little vial
of brandy, and fill it one-fourth full of
cayenne pepper, and put the cork of it
to your tongue every half hour, and
your sore throat will begin to heal at
once, and your voice quit being
squeal1y." It was done, and it did.
Later in the day a gentleman trained in
medical science, but not practicing it,
and so not conceited in its latter day
nature, came IL. and was asked:
" Ho7O does this red pepper cure my
thrOat-that is, how does it aCt?" He
replied: "It acts as local stimulus;
and in two ways strengthens the dis
eased parts of the throat and prevents
the growth of any false matter-heats
and relaxes, stimulates and tOnes--red
pepper always does that" He added:
1.-The world would be a great deal bet
ter off, and a great deal healthier, if it
used more of it.
So, while the mod ern doctor stands
puzzled and perplexed and unsuccess-
full before diphtheria, and while medical
science can do no more to control or
cure it than when it first appeared some
twenty-five years ago, and while some
times four or five children die of it yet
in a single family, why not revive the
gOOu Ola plan OF grandmother S-Of
watching the cbildren's Threats all the
time, detecting the first trace of trouble,
and then using the old-fashioned red
pepper to fight and ward off the disease
while it is incipient- and before it be-
comes roOtedP
Doctors will laugh at it. But doctors
always have laughed at the best people
to cure the sick-and ward off sickness
in the wOrld-the good old women, wise
in experience, healing in their nursing,
and those who have raised large fami-
lies of their own, and helped to raise
and save all the weakly young children
in the neighborhood, and any one OF
whom is worth more in the sick room of
a child i'll with children's troubles, than
all the doctors in town.
We propose the restoration of the
red-pepper to its old place in family
favor, and to its undoubted usefulness.
We believe grandmothers can take it.
and with proper care by beginning in
time, beat all the doctors yet in fighting
the dread diseases of the throat, and in
saving the children from their ravages.
-DeS Monies State Register.