The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-12
"YAHB DOCTORS" OF THE SUNNY SOUTH They Give Their Pstients Some
 Remarkable Doses BLACK MAMMYo" SKILL Experience of Northern Man Who Thought He Had Appendicitis
 and How He Was Speed
 fly Cured.
From the Washington Times.

From the Washington Times.
 In these days of wonderfully compound ed patent medicines and sensational "cure-alls' discovered by the differ ent medical colleges, 1t is interesting to note that the old 'yahb doctor' with his mysterious collection of berries, parks, and herbs. still holds his own in the south. Not only in the backwoods and mountain ous districts below Mason and Dixon's line but eve min the large cities like Baltimore and New Orleans one may find his queer little shop tucked away in some small byway, where the moss peeps through the uneven pavement and the barefoote pickaninnies build mud dams across the street puddles.
 A close inspection of the little shop through the maze of dried herbs and parks hanging outside may reveal crudely lettered board announcing that "Old Doctor Lee Cures All Ills of the Human Race" It Is very likely that the door Is open and the curious stranger who cares to enter the dim little shop will find the doctor either engaged in scraping some sappy roots or prescribing for one of his numerous patients. The oddity of the tinty, herb-filled room is en- hanced by an embalmed rattlesnake In glass box and a noisy crow with a split tongue who has mastered the art of talk ing As strange callers are rare in this curiosity shop the "doctor" raises his yellow-tinted eyes inquiringly.
 q want to get some Sassafras park, you should say, for sassafras is the most harmless of all the parks in his queer stock. While he shamples about search ing for a paper bag you will have the op- portunty of whiffing the herbs and roots and reading the ludicrous labels on the gerat array of odd bottles lined up on the long shelves
 Queer Connections.
 "Dr Lees Great Discovery For In- formationary Rheumatism reads one la bel that decorates a bottle that once held beer, but now holds a chocolate-colored connection.
 Poke Pills For Misery in the Back are the words scrubbed across tin box that probably once held backing. Another queer looking bottle informs the visitor that it contains something that will surely cure Apple Colic." Possibly this explains why the southern pickan- niny can digest more green apples than the small boy of the north.
 How does the "yahb doctor" replenish his stock when the barks, roots, and herbs run low? This question may be an swered by any one who happens to be strolling out beyond the outskirts of the city on a spring summer morning. Out in the dewy fields and around the soggy land adjacent to small streams an old man may be seen industriously searching among the tangled vines and grass blades. It is the ''yahb doctor" Frequently he plucks soffie shrub or plant and drops 1t into the greasy basket. Occasionally 1t is root he cuts with his rusty knife and places in one corner of the basket, to be scraped and boiled when he returns to his little shop. The variety of plants that grow almost in the shadows of southern city is astonishing, and the ''yahb doc tor" knows them all, and knows where to find them. By surmise the old man has filled his basket and started on his long walk homeward. When he reaches his shop it is not long before the smoke rolling out of his little chimney tells that he is engaged in reducing some of the mornings collection to mysterious broths and syrups
 Heroic Treatment. But while the 'yahb ~octors' Of the cities turn their queer occupations to profit, it Is doubtful if they are master of as many herbs. barks, etc., as the old colored .mammies of the southern plan tations. What artist ever attempts to depict the interior of log cabin without sketching a bundle of herbs and barks hanging from the walls? Up in the dark loft of mammy's cabin can be found every bark, herb berry, or root that was every guilty of curing or killing. Indeed, even dried insects and reptiles are used for medicinal purposes, and sometimes t,. r4 ling The story Is told of northern hunter who went gunning in the Florida swans There was not a doctor within twenty miles, and when the visitor was suddenly attacked with a needlelike pain he imagined he had the appendicitis, and it would be all over with him long before he could reach the nearest railroad One of the Creole guides was so positive that Nanny milly' could relieve the pain that the northerner, like a drowning man clutching at a straw, consented to follow him through the wilderness to the old womans cabin. When they reached the little clearing in the thickets they found Nanny Milly' busily engaged in brew ing something in an iron pot.
 ,"Whte german is sick" announced the Creole. peering into the pot.
 ''I am sure I have the appendcitis,' groaned the hunter. nervously.
 Well, chile,' replied the old woman. "Ah nevah heahd ob dat kind ob disease befo' but An hab sumfin dat An only use in de worst cases. Dat will sure cure yo'.
 She dipped a tin cup in the boiling pot and held 1t out to the patient
 Drink dis right down es hot es yo' kin stan it. she ordered
 The mixture resembled some kind of broth with oil floating on 1t.
 What is it made off" asked the north erner, little suspiciously.
 "Doan ask me dat now Ah'll tell yo' after while. Doctahs ought not to tell der secrets enyhow."
 The man who imagined he had the ap- pendicitis drained the cup at gulp and then danced around like a Sioux.
 What on earth is that?' he demanded.
 'Eet aint got no particular name, sah; An jes' bile up sum ob desc blue-black lizahds, en den An skin de broth
 But the northerner was gone. He rushed over the tangled trail until he reached the hunting camp and then swallowed milk and mustard as an emetic. After great struggle the last of the startling dose was gone and so was the appendicitis.
 Just as soon as you feel the pain.' he related to his friends when he returned