The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-24

| In fact, my advice to anybody who has
| creaky joint, or a swelled and aching
| one, is drink all the buttermilk you can
relish, whenever and wherever you can.
1t must be good buttermilk-fresh
| churned and wholesome, from depen-
dable dairy. Milk that has been kept
| too long before churning, or afterward,
will certainly not do any good and may
do harm.
'Buttermilk was not by any means
the only remedy my home people used.
In fact, they had govt cures nearly as
various as the manifestations of govt
itself. Some few of them were heroic
the turpentine bandage, for example.
Soft old flannel wet with spirits of tur-
pentine was bound on the affected part
and ironed with a hot flatiron as long
as the patient could stand it. 1t took
grit to stand it many minutes-the tur-
pentine vaporized and went in, making
deep, painful burn, which generally
drove away the govt. The milder rosin
plaster was much affected by the black
people. Rosin, either crude or CONNER
cial, was melted, mixed with grease
eth' SpiSIu UPON llliIl, SOll ledLHGI, OL-
ten the red morocco top Of an old boot
leg, then clapped in place sizzling hot
and left to wear off. Since it stuck
worse than a porous plaster the wear
ing was tedious. Rosin plasters were
commonly sacred to lame backs and
shoulders A big one was a treasure
often kept as a sort of heirloom--it
could always be renewed by spreading
on fresh rosin.
CLAY poultices ran them hard in pop
ular favor. Ocherous red clay, or dirt
burned in the chimney back, was mixed
to very soft mud with apple vinegar,
spread an inch thick all around the
equity spot, and left there twenty-four
hours. Gouty feet were fncased in it
until they looked like the hands of a
giant prize fighter ready for the ring.
For equity ankles the mud was put into
sock, which was then drawn on, and
worn sometimes a week. Gouty finger
joints had the lead bandage made by
hammering q bullet thin and fiat, then
bending 1T in place with the ends lap
ping. AS the swelling went down the
ends were Tapped further. thus keeping
May apple ointment was sovereign
for lame backs, sore shoulders and stiff
necks. The fleshy roots We're stewed
soft, then mashed up in lard and stewed
half a day longer. 1t was a powerful
remedy, and needed to be used with
discretion or it would take off the skin |
and make an ugly sore Where there |
was racking or shooting pain, hop poul- |
tees and hop foot baths came into play, |
and certainly did good. The hop poul- |
tice was a thin bag half filed with dry |
hops wrung out Of boiling water and |
laid very hot upon the equity spot. For |
the foot bath a bigger bag of hops went |
into the tub, boiling water was poured |
In and the feet steamed until the water |
was cool enough for bathing. Grape |
sap was the cure of cures for spring |
govt. A vigorous wild grape vine was
cut off any time in March or April and |
the flowing sap caught in wooden
vessel 1t was an article of faith not to
let it touch glass or metal. 1t was
drunk from a gourd, or else from the
rim of the piggin. A healthy vine
should drip enough sap in a night to
rink all next day, as well as to wet
0andages for the sore spots.
There We're bitters innumera BILE.
rhe best of them was made of wild |
,herry bark, poplar bark, dogwood
,ark, dandelion root and hops, each i'm
used separately, the strained liquor
mixed, and added to its own bulk of
honest whiskey, In many cases poke
berries and whiskey beat the bitters
nut Of sight, Dry poke berries we're
,etter than fresh ones, and you had to
rink three filings up from the same
,ottle of berries. It was odd-but the
'okeberry whiskey made no drunkards. |
instead it seemed to destroy taste for
vhiskey where it already existed"-
Washington Star.