Newspapers / The Yancey Journal (Burnsville, … / Feb. 5, 1976, edition 1 / Page 8
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PAGE 8 THE YANCEY JOURNAL FEBRUARY 5, 1976 Folk-Ways And Folk-Speech: ' Some Old - Timer Folk Remedies The area of folk remedies continues to be of interest to readers of Folk Ways, leading one to believe that many of these remedies may be employed rather than merely remembered as “enduran ces” of early years. A letter from Mrs. Mollie Click of Kingsport, Tennessee gives a hint of this although most readers will agree with her “terrible” assessment of others, including Balm of Gilead buds, still sold on the j herb market. 4 “I was thinking about a substance which my father called Bomgillion, which is correctly pronounced Balm of Gilead. It was produced from the buds of balsam poplar tree and used with mutton tallow A (taller), which when heated I together on the back of the old " wood-burning cook stove pro duced a salve which was used # for chapped hands and other n medical purposes. " An old friend of ours j visited us this summer (he is J 79) and we drove him down to I LaFollette, Tennessee, to visit 1 his relatives there. They had 1 these Balm of Gilead trees growing in their yard. They I look much like the Silver Leaf Maple, but the bud is sticky and tastes much like the bud from a fir tree (terrible!)” Mrs. Click goes on to discuss a remedy entirely new to me and I wonder whether other readers have heard of it. ' “My cousin from Ken tucky once fell and cracked her knee cap, letting the fluid drain out into the flesh. Her knee became stiff, and after trying several doctors' medi cines with no help, her folks consulted an old herb doctor, who suggested digging com mon old red worms and heating them also on the back of the old stove until a salve was formed which was ap- ' plied to the knee cap. I don’t know if this actually healed the knee cap, but she was about 10 years old at the time and now is in her 50’s and has no stiffness whatsoever.” For Safety & | SAFETY FIRST i Each year, more than I 35,000 Americans are treated 1 for injuries caused by caustic ' chemicals and cleaning agents—making these sub stances the number-one haz ardous household product in I the home, according to the | U.S. Consumer Product Safe ty Commission. Among these substances j are liquids and 'crystal drain j openers that use dangerous I lye and acids to dissolve clogs lililll 7- \ in drains, often taking several hours to do their job. They combine with standing water to create a colorless, odorless acid which, in many docu mented cases, has caused chemical burns and poisoning to unsuspecting adults and children alike. Because using these prod ucts, and storing them around the house, poses a very real threat to your family’s safety, the Glamorene people have developed a drain opener that is a major imprpvement over donventional, do-it-yourself products. ’ Caljed Drain Power, it con tains no caustic lyes or acid. Instead it uses pressure to push against the clogs and send them down through the i pipes and out into the sewer. I Drain Power has also been ' "sniff proofed" to prevent i deliberate misuse by mhala- I tion of its contents. More- I over, it takes 30 pounds of ' pressure, more than the aver- . age child can muster, to dis charge its contents. Cleaning agents and med- 1 icines should always be stored J in a locked cabinet out of I your children’s reach. But I why flirt with danger by 1 keeping caustic lyes and acid ’ anywhere in your home when there’s a more effective alter- r native available? O >A r Memories of the once familiar asafetida bag are less than pleasant for Mr. Click. too, remember the asafetida which my mother tied up in a piece of muslin and tied around my neck supposedly to keep the germs away. It should have--it was a black, tarry-looking substance which smelled to high heaven. It probably kept people away!” ft RICHARD SARSTOW A SFW, * cpia 01.10 IC3 CDI .SOT. I ie * *-cI3.X/-a.B-29-.I INI. J ASHEVILLE CIVIC CENTER WM yt • > ™ / & 1 " \ " I A m R \ f" JHI J«. Jl k \ l Jtk K. y 1 I URMw if l 1 mtm fOi V T mShSPLI 1 IZE. DETERGENT. ■ Aft &Sj®||■ I rm mw fflflMfcaMll/ S.LH A cough medicine probab ly familiar to other readers she still apprftvesv \ “One old remedy which worked then and still worked for my children was a cough syrup made from onion and sugar. They took an onion about the size of a teacup and sliced it thin, putting a teaspoon of sugar between each slice. It was then allowed to set until the sugar melted - . and formed a syrup. A teaspoon of this syrup was sipped when needed to stop a cough. My children loved it.” A recent item from a Los Angeles newspaper indicates that the old folk legend of the stolen package is still alive, though in somewhat contem porary circumstances. The release follows and needs no explanation. “Mrs. Hollis Sharpe was walking her miniature poodle when a tall young man jumped out of an automobile and grabbed her. “As she winced in pain and fell, the man snatched her plastic bag and ran. “Mrs. Sharpe ended up with a broken left arm but was happy with the knowledge that the mugger had gotten what he deserved. The bag contained only dog waste.” — 1 Progress Edition 11 The Yancey Journal is planning to publish a special “Progress” edi tion on February 26, 1976. This issue will be mailed to every Yancey County boxholder. A photographer will be taking pictures dur ing the next two weeks at participating busi , nesses. Any merchant wishing to participate in this special edition, and who has not been contacted by February 20, please call the Journal office at 682- 2120 no later than 5 p.m. on that day (Fri day 1-
The Yancey Journal (Burnsville, N.C.)
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Feb. 5, 1976, edition 1
8
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