802 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



better than I do the " School marm;" Ihong-h the 

 "school-marm " is bright and smart, and I like her 

 too. 



As to hiring- out to drive that mule team, I nev- 

 er offered to work for my board in warm weather; 

 I think I am worth more than that. But every 

 winter I am frozen up, and as soon as I beg-in to 

 house up I get sick and stay sick till warm weath- 

 er comes. Last fall I made up my mind to go to 

 Florida to spend the winter, if T could find some- 

 thing to do to pay mj' board while there. I want 

 to be outdoors, and I want to be doing something. 

 Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111., Aug. 4, 1886. 



Mrs. C, I was a little afraid you were a 

 little inclined to be uncharitable toward the 

 "school-marm;" therefore I was very glad 

 to hear you say, toward the conclusion, that 

 you liked her too. These friends of ours 

 have different talents, different capabilities, 

 different missions in life, and very likely 

 they are all lovable, if we come to under- 

 stand them ; and this we can do only by be- 

 coming intimately acquainted. Aiid this 

 brings me to my "latest hobby, of making it 

 a point to, get acquainted with people; then 

 you know we shall come nearest to that hap- 

 py state of loving everybody. Is it not soV 



1^ I ^ — 



MEDICINE VERSUS HYGIENE. 



SOME SENSIBLE IDEAS EKOM FItlEND TEltHV. 



fRTEND ROOT:— On page TT:! of Gi.eaninos 

 you give us a very interesting talk in re- 

 gard to dosing with plants and herbs. I 

 agree with j-ou fully; and if we could get 

 every one else to agree with us. we might 

 do much good. The quantities of medicine given 

 in many families is appalling. Surely a magazine 

 devoted in part to "home interests" can not do 

 better than to protest against this but too com- 

 mon practice of dosing ourselves, or the children, 

 for every little ailment, even with home-made 

 remedies. Then look at the thousands of tons of 

 patent medicines that are sold every j'ear, and, of 

 course, swallowed by some one. Why, only the 

 other day T called on one of the most intelligent 

 men in our town, and found him opening a bottle 

 of patent medicine. His e.vcuse was, "I have 

 been rather out of sorts for some days, and need 

 something to tone me up." 



Ever since the writer was old enough to know 

 any thing he has been down on this dosing busi- 

 ness, although every rafter in the old garret used 

 to be hung full of dried herbs of every description, 

 decoctions from which were often put on, or into, 

 the other children. Once when I was quite poorly 

 father called in a celebrated physician, author of 

 a work on family dosing. He said 1 was " bilious," 

 and left a box of pills for me. I was only eight 

 years old; butl had a great horror of pills. Moth- 

 er fixed one up in a spoonful of sauce and brought 

 it to me. I couldn't and wouldn't take it. Then 

 they dissolved it in water, and tried to make me 

 drink it. At last they ottered me a S.5.00 gold-piece 

 if I would take it, but I wouldn't. Worried out I 

 finally told them to put it in a raisin and I would 

 try it. I took it in my mouth ; and as mother 

 turned to put the spoon on the table the pill went 

 out the open window. Next morning the doctor 



called. " Whj%" he says. " he is much better. 

 How beautifully these pills do work! Give anoth- 

 er to night, and he will be all right in a day or 

 two." The second one followed the first, and I got 

 well rapidly. It was ten years before I dared tell 

 the story; but meanwhile no pills went down my 

 throat. 



Our best physicians now give but little medicine. 

 They know that pure air and sunshine, proper 

 food and exercise, are the best medicines, as a rule. 

 It was a wise man, but rather ahead of the times, 

 who wrote some 30 years ago, that " doctors do 

 precious little when they don't do harm." 



Some years ago the writer was laid up by a very 

 badly injured foot. He even got so low that there 

 was a slim chance of his ever being any better. 

 People would come in and say, " Why don't you 

 try this or that? The doctor isn't doing anything 

 for j'ou." So I asked him one morning if there 

 wasn't something known to science that would 

 help my foot to heal up? He replied, " I am sorry 

 to say that there is not. We can only keep it wet 

 with carbolic acid, and let nature work." I knew 

 he told the truth, and was satisfied. With some 

 natures, pei'haps, a harmless substance, put on 

 with strong assurance that it would surely cui-e, 

 would have been best, so strong an influence has 

 the mind on the body, hence our often wonderful 

 so-called "faith cures." Mj' doctor knew me, 

 and knew that the exact truth was what I wanted, 

 ah hough it was a sad admission for science to 

 make, in view of all the healing (?) salves and 

 ointments that our mothers used to have. 



I remember once taking- a very hard cold. It 

 made me very sick, and wife sent for the same 

 physician. He came and looked me over and 

 said, " Keep covered up warm in bed, so warm as to 

 be rather uncomfortable, and you will be all right 

 in a day or two." Not much medicine for $3.00, 

 surely; but it proved to be all I needed. In some 

 places, I presume, he would have given some 

 bread pills or sweetened water, "a teaspoonful 

 every other hour." Now, this man is thoroughly 

 posted, and up to the times; and what docs he do 

 when ?(6 feels "bilious"? Take medicine? Yes, 

 the very best kind. He gets out his horse and 

 buggy and drives down to my place. Then he puts 

 on an old suit of clothes, and, with dog and gun, 

 takes a long rapid tramp through the woods and 

 fields, until the sweat runs from every pore of his 

 bodj'. When tired out he comes back, puts on his 

 dry clothes, and goes home all right. This has 

 been his practice for years. How foolish, then, for 

 lis to dose ourselves with injurious medicines, 

 which the most intelligent physicians, who know 

 all that science has yet taught, cm this point, 

 wouldn't think of touching! And how much more 

 foolish, and even wicked, to stuff the same down 

 the throats of the little innocents, every time they 

 cry or are fretful! There isn't a single drop of 

 medicine in our house, ol' any kind, nor a single 

 herb to make any of. We have always let nature 

 take care of all little ailments, doing what we 

 could to assist her by good care, and for larger 

 ones celled an intelligent physician, and I am sure 

 our babies gav'e less trouble than mother's used to. 



I know it is hard to sit idly by and see loved 

 ones suffer, hence we try to prevent it by giving 

 them pure air, sunshine, keeping them clean (of 

 that in my next), feeding them properly', and see- 

 ing that they take plenty of exercise. Sickness 



