Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-04-04
Old Times.

aud every Ht" anu tHeH Stnp at some
point of the early lite, and all the little
incidents of that time come fioatinS uI
SO fresh. It seems so real as we see ir
our thoughts the faces and forms o
some loved ones who have long since
passed on beyond. How we remem Der
the voice, the features and as we hold
sweet communion with that love d one.
We wake with such sweet thoughts,
and after we are awake we lie and
think over all of active life.
Last night ] laid awake for hours,
and how fresh one scene of my boy
hood days come up with all the vivid
ness of life. 1t was in the spring of the
year, when all good housewives over
haul the house. Oh, hGuse-cleaning!
How many, many times / have Won
dered if when we get into my Fathers
house, where there are many man
slons, there will be any cleaning house
there! / hope not. One spring morn
ing my mother said, You put on the
big kettle, and we will commence
cleaning house" And of all the dis
Agreeable work think that the worst.
And who ever knows how much
household stuff a person has until you
come to overhaul the whole house,
from top to bottom. Such sights of old
tin pans, tin plates, pewter plates. pew
ter platters, ,candIesticks, tin and brass,
all to be secured and mended; the brass
androns, fire-shovel ond tongs-all to
scour as bright as day; the woodwork
all to be washed and painted anew;
overhead to white wash; beds to be
taken down; the bedsteads to scald;
the rope-holes in the bed rails TO poison
to keep ont the flat-tacks. Oh, how /
used to hate it all!
Well do I remember one spring.
think it was the last but one on the
old home farm. We had got we'll in
the suds, securing and cleaning, / be-
gan to feel cold and chilly; my back
ached-I ached ali over. Soon began
to shake. / was so sick 1 went to bed ,
and l thought would die. My moth
er hurried away the things-any where
to get them out of the way-and sent
for our old physician. When he came
he felt my pulse, locked at my tongue,
ana said, "bi.ious fever" Now the
first thing to do in such eases, was to
strip up your sieve and take all the
ilinnH of CO
there would not be so much fever.
"Now we will give him an emetic, to
clean hlm out inside.n Now we must
fill him chuck full of calomel and rhu-
barb, mixed with molasses. Now let
him rest, but don't let him have drop
of water for it will sour on his stomach
and kill HIM. The fever must have
it's run of niue days, any way, and all
we can do now is to keep him full cal
3mel and rhubarb and molases, and
wait. If he don't die befure nine days
are up, he will most likely get well.
He will live or die, one of the two!"
Oh, how my head ached! how hot
and dry my skin, how parched and
husky my mouth and throatW
"Mother, won't you please give me
drink of water? l am so thirsty!
my Child, don't you know what the
doctor said? / would gladly give you
all the water you want, but you know
the doctor said you must not drink any
water; it would kill youn'
"Oh, I am so hot, so thirsty, ma!
Do you suppose the rich man that died
and asked for just one drop of water to
cool his parched tongue suffered any
worse than I do?n
MY poor child, I would gladly give
you the water, but you must not have
it. You must not think about water;
think of something else"
How I thought of the cool running
brook, with its waters splashitg, dash
ing over and among the rocks! How I
wished ! was a fish, or / could lie in
one of those pools and let the water
don over me.
"Mother, how many days have I
been here. nowW
"Ths is the fourth day"
"And have got to lie here five more
days, with not a drop of water?"
Don't think of the water SO much;
it only makes the fever worse. l will
bathe your face and hands with good,
cold water"
"Wont you bathe the inside Of my
mouth? Please put that wet rag in my
mouth" Oh, how hot, how thirsty!
That night the doctor came, as usual,
for he had come every morning and
evening since / was sick; for be said
"He is very sick boy" At the same
time another boy named Theodore
Fuller was sick. The doctor talked to
mother. He thought I could not hear
him, but / heard him say Theodore
Fuller had died that morning; be was
afraid I would not live but day or so
logger. Did it frighten me? no! felt,
anything for a change! 1t could not be
for the worse.
That night, after all the family had
gone to bed but my mother, she came
and sat down by the size of the bed
and bathed my face and hands, and
talked to me about dying. She shed
m NY tears. After while she took
the water bucket and went to the well,
which was but few steps from the
door. Haw plainly I could hear the
old sweep as she sent the bucket down