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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 160
Home Remedies. Hodie said:
For a cold. When we got a cold, Grandmother would get turpentine. She'd burn it. It would crystallize on top. It was thin. We'd suck it for sore throats.
The green of the pine tree. Steep it into a tea for a cold. We also had sassafras [bark] tea.
Asafetida. We'd put it in a little bag with a string and wear it around our neck all winter to help with a cold or other germs we'd get. It looked like gum and came in a little packet. We'd put it in something like a tobacco bag, about 2 inches long.
Some people took a teaspoon of sugar and dropped some drops of turpentine on it for a sore throat or a cold.
Chiggers. For chiggers we used a type of oil.
Toothache. People smoked tobacco in a pipe for a toothache. I did that once and it made me sick, so I never tried that again.
Swelling. Bathe it in vinegar. Pour some vinegar in the pan of water. Put a cloth in the pan and let it [the vinegar-water solution] in then lay the cloth on the swelling.
Wasp stings. Wet tobacco and lay it on the sting.
Doctors. Hodie said:
Grandmother never went to the doctor. She bought a bottle of some medicine that she said would “keep the worms out of us.” Every April, early spring, Grandmother gave us Quinine and then followed with a round of Caster oil to clean our systems out.
When Hodie's family used a doctor, most of the time they went to Huntsville to Dr. Scruggs. Sometimes he would “come out.” Dr. Scruggs is pictured on page 162.
The Depression
When asked if her grandparents had gone through a hard time during the Depression years, Hodie replied:
No. They would make molasses and made a lot of their own food. [They] had a smokehouse near the kitchen.
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