As I Remember It! July

Recently I was thinking of lost arts. Mr Albert [Bobie] Meadows could find a water vein by holding 2 sticks in a certain direction and they would vibrate. He could tell then that there was a water vein underground and he could dig a water well.  In our time, we drew water from a man dug well with a bucket on a rope and on a wheel.  Mr. Bobie dug all of the wells until new technology came along.  I remember once when he was digging a well and the gas fumes built up and he had to climb out of the well. He just chuckled.  I always thought of how brave he was. Sometimes he had to come out of the well really fast due to the water coming in too fast.  He had a twinkle in his eyes when he smiled and never seemed to get upset. Ola Mae [Sue] reminds me of him a lot. For those of you that do not know, Sue is his daughter and was the wife of Uncle Tom [Daddy's brother].  Mamon Thomas, AKA Pap was Aunt Zannie  [Daddy's sister]'s husband and he knew of a plant in the woods that would heal a sore or burn in a few days. I remember of a person who had a bad burn and the Dr. had them coming to the office for dressing changes. The healing process was real slow. Someone told Pap about it. He offered to get the burn well. He went into the woods and found the leaves, made a poultice and applied it. The burn healed in a couple days. People would ask his advice about many plants in the woods that had healing properties. Some things I still don't understand. When we were kids and had colds, daddy would make us a tea with dried cow dung. It was called "cow chip". He also picked a plant called "Mullin" and made us a tea. Must have had some nutrients because we survived. People in West Virginia, the residents still make a stew called Deer Drop Soup. They  go to a deer crossing and actually scoop up the deer droppings and add it to their soup.  Once, when I was around 10 years old, I was very  sick and vomiting, grandma Alma [Daddy's mama]  said "That child is wormy". She made a tea for me using china berries. It tasted horrible and I got well but not before passing a lot of long worms.  [I know that is too much information], but we are talking about lost Arts. When I was around 5 years old, I had an abscess they called them "RISINGS in those days" on my scalp. Mama took the bloom from an okra plant, the skin from inside an egg shell and some old fashioned soap and made a poultice. She applied it to this huge boil on my scalp.  I could feel it drawing. The next day, it came to a head. There was yellow drainage on the cloth and in the bed. I felt so much better. It left a hole in my scalp but it eventually filled in. Long ago, people gave Parogoric to babies for colic. Today, it is an opiate and requires a prescription.  Remember when Aunt Zannie and Grandma Alma used Asfidity. They put it in a little bag and we wore it around our neck.  It was suppose to ward off any illness. Until next month, I cannot tell you how to be a success, but I can tell you how to fail-TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE.