Grannys Medicine cabinet,  Beckham Co. OK

Submitted by Paulyne Taylor  pingtiger@arn.net

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                       GRANNYS MEDICINE CABINET
                                         BECKHAM COUNTY OKLAHOMA
Grandad was a carpenter of  famed reputation, mostly because he could tear down
 a fence and build a house from the lumber, so he was frequently called on to 
do this.
He built a medicine chest for his two daughters my mother and her sister Polly,
 and one for his wife Maggy.
They all smelled the same, looked the same and had the same medicine in them, 
none came from the doctor or drug store,only the grocery store.
The doctor was called just before you slipped into death.
I was treated from all these medicine cabinets till I was grown and realized 
they made medicine to treat certain injuries and disease.
I always suspected my grandmother used a little Indian, voo doo, folk and more
than likely a lot of made up concoctions to cure.Here are a few of her remedies
.

I once stepped on a rusted nail while visiting.
Cure: Out came the coal oil, poured in a pan and in went my foot.
Iodine followed, a piece of bed sheet was the bandage.No one ever heard of tetinus.

I had a cough
Cure: a tablespoon full of turpentine lased with a few drops of sugar.

Ant bite and bee bite from sticking wild flowers up my nose
Cure: raw tobacco mixed with spit and placed on the bite, followed by washing 
bluing.
I always had blue spots and tobacco juice smeared all over.
Snuff worked if tobacco was scarce. I preferred the tobacco

Anything that couldnt been seen on the body such as scratches, bites,rash
Cure: Caster Oil with a slice of orange which you gagged over till you threw up
 and that was the cure.

Rash, poison Ivy
Cure: Soda mixed with water and rubbed all over till you cracked

Menstral Cramps
Cure:
Ginger tea the most God awful stuff ever knwn to man.

Indigestion
Cure: Baking soda in a glass of water. NOTE: there are many in the cemetery who
 died from this treatment.

Snake Bite:
Cure: Load stone soaked in sweet milk after the big knife came out and you were
 stabbed and poison sucked out. When load stone falls off soak in sweet milk 
and apply again and again and pray the doctor has been sent for.

Paragoric was used only when you were starring death in the face.
Pain was the ONLY reason that was used.

Croup;
Cure: Hot water with vicks in a pan of boiling water and a towel over your head.

Vicks was always there, a jar the size of a 1 lb coffee can.

Earache;
Cure: Sweet oil heated in a teaspoon, dripped in the ear, followed by smoke 
from a pipe or cigar blowed in the ear, cotton stuck in ear and hot bag of
salt applied.

Whiskey was used for most anything applied to cuts,rubbed on the body for fever,
used for colds mixed with lemon and honey.

I was raised from those medicine cabinets, but I think the whole secret was the
 attention you got, the love, the pats, the oowing and ahhing, and poor baby.I
use to look in those cabinets and was amazed that they held so little, yet 
cured so much.