The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-05
THE DRUG STORE MAN.
He Gets Some Rather Peculiar Requests
At Times.


what is it you want, my little man %
inquired the druggist of the boy at the
counter.
Me mudder wants 3 cents of bitter
Alice" shifted the urchin, unloading the
coin from his mouth.
The druggist went into the mysterious
place behind and presently came back
back with an article which he wrapped
IN paper. AS the lad went out of the
door the druggist turned to his three
wondering friends at the counter.
What did that boy ask for?' inquired
one Of them.
"Well, he asked for bitter Alice,'' re-
piled the druggist 81 don't keep bitter
Alice in stock, so I gave him bitter aloes
That's what his mother sent him for,
imagine"
There was a laugh, and one of the
three inquired:
do you have many curious mistakes
like thatY
"They are legion" was the reply Of
the compounder of drugs. 81 used to
think that some Of them were quite
Iaughable, but really I have become so ac-
customed to them that l am more or less
Indifferent. A man takes great chances
now and then filling some of the cart be-
fore the horse orders that are presented,
but the majority are easy. Last night
servant girl from the heights came in
here and asked me to give her some
thing to take a mans breath away
gave her cardamom seed, which she evil
IDENTIFY recognized, for she sampled them
on the spot
II have had any number Of calls for
Paddy Garrick' and even parry garlic
and penny garlic, which, Of course, pro-
duced paregoric in each case. Here is a
written order for a bottle Of the smelling
stuff that goes to your BRAIN This, of
course, meant ammonia / have had
call for high stirrups when hive strip
was really required. Gum arabic seems
to mix them up great deal, for the de-
mands for It has resolved themselves into
gum mare back 'comearaback, gar
marback' and hanback,
"You see, continued the druggist, find
ing that his listeners were highly inter-
ested in his statements, "a great many
residents Of this neighborhood are of
most ordinary means and, in addition,
have not superior education. All are
anxious to save physicians charges and
think that a druggist is fully competent
to treat their ailments with success,
Some of their diagnoses Of cases are real
ly pen pictures. Here is a request for
something for an old woman who has
bad cough and cannot cough. Then /
find graphic appeal for plaster for 8
man kilt with stitches That is not
quite as notable an epic as the one which
calls for enough fackseed to make a
pudding for a sore toe 1t was little
more expressive than the order which
asked for something for a heavy pain
in the bones that is coming out through
the eyes.
1--WE have here a rather amazing re-
quest for 'enuf eppy cack to throw up
baby years DID, This youngster
must have been In pretty bad shape for
here | have a demand from its mother
that | furnish her with something for
her 5-year-old child, who has AN i'm
preston on his heart and a cough that is
choking him in the neck
ITO fill the next order may seem diff
cult, but it really isn't 1t states, Send
me some Of the essence you put people
to sleep with when you cut their fingers
off, It evidently meant ether. At all
events, that Is what it was filled with.
The man who wrote this order wanted
something to take tobacco out of my
mouth. suppose 1t was the scent Of
the thing that he objected to. The good
housewife who wrote to me requesting