Home Remedies Summary

Home Remedies Summary

This article called “Home Remedies” was written by the Grandson of a famous herb doctor to inform readers of the power that herbal remedies have against sickness. The article seems to be directed at people who are in need of being cured of sickness, and would rather use herbal medicine than man made medicine. The writer’s grandfather was an old fashioned herb doctor. He was the most famous doctor in his country, and people would send for him as far as 30 miles away. The grandson recalls that his grandfather was hardly ever home, often taking on cases that most doctors gave up on.

One time the grandson was very sick with typhoid and pneumonia. Since his grandfather was out of town, his parents sent for two of the best doctors around to come and tend to him. These doctors could not do anything to cure the grandson’s deadly sickness. The next night after the doctors had given up, the grandfather showed up to cure his grandson. The grandson had almost no pulse, and had to put buttered bread on his lip in order to see if his skin was warm enough to melt the butter, and therefore prove he was still alive. Fortunately, the butter melted and so the herb doctor began devising a plan to bring the grandson back to health. The grandfather ordered his wife to beat together some butter and whiskey, and then drop two drops of this into the grandson’s mouth every two hours. Ten o’clock the next day, the grandson had come around because of this home remedy.

There were many different herb remedies used to cure a variety of sicknesses. One of the remedies that the grandson recalls was one called “white root.” This brightly colored bush had an awful bitter taste, but could be used to cure almost any ailment. Many of the herbs that the grandfather used were found out in the woods, where he would go and collect a variety of different herbal plants. Some of these different herbs were wild cherry bark, dittany, pennyroyal, and chamomile root. Some of the herbs were dried for teas, while some others were mixed with whiskey. The teas were used to cure sore throat or quinsy. His onion tea was made by roasting onions in its hull in ashes, then squeezing out the juice, and finally adding a little bit of sugar before giving to the patient. The grandson says that the only cure that works for rheumatism is dried pokeroot put into whiskey. The grandson ends by saying that there are many more remedies, but he can not recall all of them.