karen@legacywriting.com

Interview

Edited Text

KR:      The doctor always came to the house?

RR:      Very seldom we ever went to the doctor's, you know, doctor's office.  They usually came. Especially back in those days when you had quarantine, you know. They'd come to the house and, you know, give you. . . The doctor always had some kind of a pill bag and to give you somethin. We don't know whether it was actually somethin that did it, but at least it was the thinking it must be somethin that's gonna help ya.  So.

KR:      Did your mom make any homeopathic-type medicine?

RR:      Oh yeah, yeah. I member one of the things that was onion.  Onion syrup. You know we used to take onions and dice em up fine, put a little sugar on em for whatever reason. I think that maybe helped it taste a little better, or whatever.  Used to put it up in the warming closet on the cook stove overnight and by next day all that juice came out. You had a bad cold or anything, that was. . . And I think it really worked. 

KR:      So you would take a teaspoon of that or a tablespoon?

RR:      Yeah, about a tablespoon of that at a time.  And by golly you knew, you know, somethin was happenin.  You know, I think it was good. But that's the main thing I remember about it. I can remember one time when. . . You know, we never went to a dentist.  What would you go to a dentist for? If you needed a tooth pulled, either get a pair of pliers and yank it out that way or loosen it 'til it fell out yourself, or you know put a string around it.  Yeah.

But back in those days, I was quarantined. Scarlet fever can be bad. I had a fever, and I remember I was upstairs and felt very sick. I went to the kitchen to get my folks. I got downstairs and told my parents, "I’m so sick, I’m so sick." And I passed out and fell on the floor. Of course, then they knew something was really bad. But that scarlet fever is bad. The doctor always came to the house—especially back in those days, when there was a family quarantined.

Very seldom did anyone in my family ever go to the doctor’s office. The doctor came to our house. He always had some kind of a pill bag with him. I don’t know whether it was actually something that actually cured us, but at least we thought it must be something that’s going to help. So we usually got better.

Ma made different home remedies. One of the things she made was onion syrup. She took onions and diced them up fine, and put a little sugar on them, for whatever reason I am not sure. I think that maybe the sugar helped it taste a little better. Then she’d put it up in the warming closet on the cook stove overnight. By the next day, a lot of juice came out of the onion. If any of us had a bad cold, that’s what she gave us. And I think it really worked. We’d take about a tablespoon of that at a time. And, by golly, we knew something was happening and we felt better.

We never went to a dentist. What would we go to a dentist for? If we needed a tooth pulled, we’d either get a pair of pliers and yank it out, or we’d loosen it till it fell out, or put a string around it and have somebody try to pull it out. Yep, that was our dentistry.