Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-01-13
Toothache Cures.


A young, newly-married Denver
man went to his home on Velton
street the other night, taking with
him a severe case of toothache. As
soon as he got into the house he threw
himself into an easy chair and began
to groan. AT about the same time
his face on the side where the aching
tooth had many years before attained
homestead began to swell. In
about thirty minutes his lett cheek
bore a strong resemblance to an old
fashioned apple dumpling prepared
by the hands of q generous mother for
large family. The more the jaw
enlarged the louder the young man
howled and rolled about in his chair.
His wife was several years younger
than he, and her sole experience with
the toothache had hitherto been linn
tied to one or two mild attacks caused
by an excessive consumption of cara
mels. She had usually cured her
pain with creosote, and as soon as
Charley had found time between his
groans to tell her what was the mat
ter with him she got the creosote bot
tie and told him to open his mouth
and let her see the tooth which was
troubling him. He complied, but as
she could not tell by the looks which
one of the teeth was making the treu-
BILE, and as Charley could not enlight-
en- her, she thought she'd better pour
II little of the stuff into the neighbor-
hood Of where she thought it proba-
bic that the tooth was located.
Just as she got this idea into her
head she happened to think that there
was another toothache panacea in the
house. 1t was in a small phial, which
a peddlar had left there for trial.
She thought that it would be good
plan to mix a little of this stuff with
the creosote and pour the mixture
upon the infected jaw. So she made
q nice little combination in a table
spoon, and telling Charley to open his
mouth she poured it in. She was a
little excited and nervous, and her
hand shook, and so the fluid penetrat-
ed to every nook and corner of the
young mans food receptacle. There
was yell Of agony which awoke
every dog in the neighborhood, and
Charley performed hornpipe in the
middle of the floor, and accompanied
it with a series of words, the majority
of which his wife had never heard be-
fore.
1t was an hour before Charley got
quietcd sufficiently to sit down, and
about that time lady member ven
tured to ask if they had sickness in
the family. She was told of the af-
Fiction which had overtaken Charley,
and she was all sympathy at once.
She had suffered just so herself, and
the only way to cure the trouble was
to make cold application upon the out
side of the cheek.
So she went home, and Charley's
wife made neat little bag and filled
it with chopped ice, and then tied it
on his face with long red stocking.
This had the effect of changing the
pain, and made Charley feel as though
he were having needles thrust into his
brain.
He could feel the hair stand up
right on the top of his head, and his
eyes protruded from their sockets to
such an extent that his wife thought
that Charley was going crazy.
Pretty soon the ice began to melt
and to drip down upon Charley's shirt
bosom, and to meander around his
collar, and course slowly down his
spine, and Charley in his delrinm felt
as though he had been fishing and
fallen overheard. Then he began to
pace up and down the room, and kick
the footstools, and stare out of the
windows, and look unkindly at the
cat, and just at this juncture friend
of Charley and Mrs. Charley arrived.
His name was Arthur and he had
been drug clerk before he became
dude, and in consequence his intimate
friends all called him Doctor"
He was much interested when he
heard how his friend was suffering
and he smiled superior smile when
Charley's wife explained what she had
done for him. What was needed, he
said, was counter-irritant. The teeth
and the interior r1ef the mouth were
inhamed, and there was undoubtedly
fever there. A hot plaster of some
kind upon the outside would be just
the thing. He said that If Charley's
wife would get him the materials he
would prepare something which would
ease the pain almosts Immediately.
So they all went to the kitchen and
Arthur turned back his cuffs and be-
gan work. First he ripped open the
bag which contained the ice and laid
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