| Ruth Waddell talking about medicinal practices |
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| Narrator: Ruth Waddell talking about Medicinal Practices |
| Interviewer: Renee Hopkins |
| Date: Unknown |
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| Side A |
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| RW |
I was talking, and I listened when we were at the meeting the other day when they were talking about the turpentine and sugar. And sometimes for cramps, stomach cramps, they would use a teaspoon of sugar with ten drops of turpentine. It was kind of bitter, but I've used camphor. And I still use camphor. |
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| RH |
What is camphor? |
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| RW |
Camphor is something that you rub on your skin. We used to have it for external and internal, but you can't buy it for internal anymore. So I buy external, and I put six or seven drops on a teaspoon of sugar. Like if I'm just sore on the inside, I'll take that. |
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| RH |
Wow. It seems to work? |
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| RW |
Yeah. It works. |
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| RH |
For cramps it used to work, too? |
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| RW |
Mom used to grow peppermint, too. In the yard, you know. She used to give us that for cramps. We used to have that. For colds Mother used goose grease. She'd cook a goose. And then the grease comes off you know. Mostly, they'd rub you. She'd heat it. Then she'd rub you. Then she'd put a piece of flannel over you. And she'd use that. |
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| RH |
What would that do?' |
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| RW |
Well, that would draw that phlegm and stuff out of your throat. And they'd rub your feet with it, too. |
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| RH |
Wow. |
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| RW |
And then she'd make like a syrup out of whiskey and sugar and honey for when we had colds. She'd give us that when we had colds. Then we'd have whiskey and sugar with hot water, and she called that a toddy. |
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| RH |
Hot toddy. |
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| RW |
You know, you'd get in bed, and it would make you sweat. You would sweat a lot. You'd really sweat. So she'd use that. And then sometimes she'd use onions and sugar and put a little honey in it. She'd make a syrup out of that. That was good for coughs and things that kids would have. With six kids you had to come up with all kinds of things. |
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| RH |
Sure. |
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| RW |
And if horehound candy was available,.... |
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| RH |
What kind? |
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| RW |
Horehound. H-O-R-E-H-O-U-N-D. Sometimes you can get it now, and it used to come like in barrels, you know. Now, once in a while, you'll find it, and it will be in a little bag, you know. And it doesn't taste very good, but it is good for coughs. |
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| RH |
If it works, nothing tastes good that works for colds. |
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| RW |
For boils and infections, she'd use flaxseed. She'd make a poultice of flaxseed, and put it on there, you know. And put a bandage around it. |
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| RH |
And that would take it out? |
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| RW |
That would take out the core of the.... Or she'd use the fat of the bacon or slice of
potato and put it on there or break an egg and then you take the skin from inside the shell. It's got the white on it. You'd put that on there. |
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| RH |
And it would take the core out of like a boil? |
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| RW |
Yeah. It takes the infection out. |
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| RH |
Would that do for like a cyst, too? |
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| RW |
Probably. Oh, for diarrhea she'd toast bread, and then she'd pout hot water over it. And it would make like a tea. |
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| RH |
Strain it, would you? |
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| RW |
Just pour the water off of it after. It comes off kind of brownish-like, you know. And she'd have us to drink that for diarrhea. |
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| RH |
Wow. Some of these. |
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| RW |
What else? For fever she would use salt. She'd put the salt in a rag, and she would fold it over, and she would wet that. And then tie it around your wrists or your ankles. Once my brother was sick, and she put one on his chest. And it draws the fever out of the body. The doctor was really surprised, but her father had told her how to do that. He was Indian mostly. And he told her how it do that. And the doctor was really surprised because my brother's temperature was so high. And just dry. The body's so warm that it will just dry that salt right out, but then it takes the temperature down. So that was a good thing to do. And they used to put water underneath the bed when my brother would wet the bed. She would put a pan of water under the bed. This was supposed to stop him from wetting the bed. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. And I used to have nosebleeds a lot, and she'd tie a key around my neck. Put a string on a key and just put the key down my back, and it would stop my nose from bleeding. |
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| RH |
No. Are you serious? I was going to say that sounds like a wife's tale. |
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| RW |
She'd just put that cold key down my neck, and stop my nose from bleeding. I used to have nosebleeds terrible when I was a girl and that really worked. I used to wear a key around my neck 'cause I could just bend over and my nose would start bleeding. So I'd wear that key for four or five days around my neck. Now, they put an ice pack. |
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| RH |
Yeah, they do all these kind of things. Kind of makes you wonder the stuff they do now. |
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| RW |
Nowadays the doctors are just after the money. |
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| RH |
I think you're right. |
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| RW |
Because I burned my arm about a month or so ago. I burned it clear around here and around here. I reached across a can of corn. I was cooking boiling corn, and I didn't have the lid on all the way. And the steam burnt me. I should have run cold water on it, but I put butter on it. |
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| RH |
Butter is not supposed to be good. |
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| RW |
No. I put butter on it and it blistered. (at this point the conversation about medicinal practice ends) |
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| Tape Side A |
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