Here comes the Watkins Man!

Believe it or not, aspirin was one of the remedies that was used when I was growing up. They were much larger then and were coated and, as I remember, were a sort of pale yellow in color and were used only for a headache! Thought it best to start with something that sounds normal as there may be some things that will sound more than weird as I continue.

For starters, much of the products were bought from the traveling salesmen that came with horse and cart (they looked sort of like a closed-in carriage). The ones I remember were Watkins, Bakers, and Rawleigh. When we saw them driving in, it was very exciting and, of course, whoever saw them first would shout: "Here comes the Watkins Man!" Then we kids got to watch while Mom decided what to buy and/or what he had brought if she had pre-ordered from the last time around. I think they came about once a month. They sold all sorts of spices and extracts as well as salves, ointments, and what-have-you.

Vanilla extract was sold in large bottles as was pain relief for an upset stomach. This is a little story that happened to Janice: She made a cake and, instead of vanilla, she mistakenly used pain relief. After it was detected and after she got over her embarrassment, we all had a good laugh.

Liniment was used for sore muscles and was good for man or beast. Mentholatum was used for sore muscles. Rubbed on the chest, it was supposed to help loosen a chest cold (I still like to use it, but it is hard to find now-a-days). For a sore throat, gargle with salt mixed with a little vinegar and warm water or just warm salt water. Turpentine and lard mixed together could be used for a sore throat and/or chest if congested. For a throat, a stocking was fastened around the neck with a safety pin. For a chest, a flannel cloth was fastened the same way. The stocking or flannel cloth was warmed in the warming oven and then fastened in place, and the "patient” was given a pat and tucked into bed to recover! If that didn't cure it, sometimes an onion—sliced, sprinkled with a little sugar, and set aside on the back of the stove until it formed a syrup to take--might do the trick.

For an earache, a drop of warmed sweet oil was dropped in ear followed by a piece of cotton or a few puffs of smoke blown into the ear. That was the only time I ever saw my dad smoke. He had a crooked-stemmed large corn-cob pipe for that purpose only. Another "cure" was a little sack filled with coarse salt. When used, it was first heated. It stayed warm for a long while. As it cooled one could shake it to bring the warm salt to the outer side.  Earaches are terribly painful.

We drank sassafras tea made of the bark of the tree. It was considered a Spring Tonic. We picked wild Sheep Sorrel and wild onions. They both could be found at the same time in early spring. They were supposedly good for "curing the spring fever”. We kids ate them with bread and butter of all things.

Mom made ginger tea for stomach cramps. A little baking soda in some water could be used for gas on the stomach, and cracker soup used for an "up-set” stomach. Cracker soup: Break a few crackers in bowl, add some milk, bring just to boiling stage, pour over crackers and add black pepper. Make it so it is soupy. Don't eat anything else with it!

For bee stings, wasp stings, or spider bites: Dampen a small amount of baking soda with enough water to make a thick paste and put it over the sting. Cover with a cloth. Remove stinger first if possible.

Take a bath in vinegar water to relieve the itching from chigger bites.

Dampen a bar of homemade lye soap and rub on poison ivy, then leave it on until it dries good.

Castor oil for a laxative, followed with a little something sweet.

To ward off an epidemic such as flu, diphtheria, scarlet fever, small-pox, and other diseases: Close the house and burn sulfur by sprinkling it on top of a hot stove. Let the fumes fill the house. I don't remember for how long, but it seemed like a LONG time. My dad was the one who decided when it was necessary and was the one who announced that everyone stay inside until it was time to air the house out.

I won't tell about the onion and fat-side meat poultice for using on an infected wound to draw the poison out…

Blue John, Mush and Milk, and Fern’s Rotten Cake

While I was growing up at home Mom probably cooked a little differently as the years rolled by. All sorts of foods eventually came in mixes and whatnot in place of tins, barrels, or what have you, although it took her awhile to get used to the idea of using a cake mix in place of making it from ''scratch".

For breakfast there was home-cured bacon or ham with eggs, bread or biscuits and gravy or fried potatoes, eggs and gravy, or fried eggs, fried mush and gravy, or toast toasted in the oven (lots of slices all at once) with butter and jam or jelly or apple butter or whatever, eggs (sometimes poached or scrambled) and sometimes potato "cakes" made of left-over mashed potatoes and gravy!

The fried mush we had for breakfast was what was left over from supper. Mom had a three-legged iron cooking pot in which she made a large amount of mush--the main dish which we called Mush And Milk. If some liked it with sugar and cream or just butter: OK; but that was the main part of the meal as a rule and usually a winter meal. The leftovers were poured into a shallow pan and set aside to thicken until it was ready to cut and fry for breakfast.

We always had milk to drink and lots of butter where needed. The only breakfast foods that we bought were oatmeal and corn flakes (which we had a lot of, especially oatmeal). If the oatmeal happened to stick to the bottom of the pan and was a little too done, she would always say she liked it that way and eat that.

We did not use anything but cream on our cereal, but sometimes used the separated milk to make gravy, which we called "Blue John". (I don't how it got the name or if that is the way it is spelled). The Blue John was usually given to the pigs, mixed with some kind of pig-meal. But when hard times came the extra cream was needed to sell to buy staples such as flour, sugar, raisins, and such. But still we did not have to give up using cream on cereal as using just plain whole milk was never thought of.  Of course we had to churn our own butter so that took quite a lot cream too.

Dad and Mom both drank coffee for breakfast, but kids were not allowed to. That was Dad’s belief as his family did not allow kids to drink coffee because it was not "good for kids". I found out a long time later that in Mom’s family the kids drank coffee if they wanted it!

Other foods Mom cooked were vegetables, fruit, meat, and wild greens (which she loved but Dad didn't much care for). She made wonderful homemade ice cream. She made it from a recipe that called for partially cooking some milk, then the thick cream and flavoring were added after the mixture cooled but before freezing. Turning the crank on the freezer was the men’s and kids’ job. The ice was bought in huge chunks and put in a gunnysack to break up into small pieces with the broad side of an ax!  As it was put in the freezer, coarse salt was sprinkled on the ice and then more ice was added. When the "cranker" couldn't turn the crank any longer, it meant the ice cream had hardened and was ready to eat. Mom prided herself that she did not make ice cream with those junket tablets that some folk used. They were just added to the mixture and it was not cooked which made the ice cream have a "grainy" texture.

She made chicken and/or beef and noodles. Chicken and dumplings were a Sunday special, baked chicken and dressing (she raised her own sage and used plenty), breaded tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, lots of beans and cornbread. In the fall after the bean vines had dried up, they were pulled up and stored in a shed and then later "threshed" by tromping on them or however they did it. About all I remember is that after they were out of the shells, there were quite a few "bad" ones and they had to be sorted. So some of we kids gathered around the kitchen table (on request) and were given a cup and a whole lot of beans to sort. To make it more "interesting" we would see who could fill their cup with good beans the quickest. The next day we'd have our beans and cornbread for dinner plus whatever else we had to go with them. Raymomd liked beans so much that Chauncey nicknamed him Beany, which stuck with him a long time until everyone began to think that was his real name.

Mom had a special chocolate cake recipe that she made. It called for cream, butter, and walnuts and was very rich and fine textured, so much so that it almost fell apart. "Uncle John" Gray (who was not a real uncle, just a good friend of family) called Mom's cake “Fern's Rotten Cake” which he thought was The Best.

To tell a little tale about myself: When "helping" mom make a cake, she had me sift the flour and baking powder/soda. After putting papers for sifting I was told to be sure to sift it nine times. After a few years I sorta caught on what the reason was for the nine times thing. It was to keep me busy while she put the cake together. I imagine it was also to make me think that I was really helping.

She made lots of pumpkin pies, especially during corn-shucking time when Dad and the boys would come in between loads for an extra snack. Turnips were seasoned with salt pork and tasted really good; that’s the way Mom fixed them usually.

She made spare ribs and sauerkraut. Usually creamed fresh and/or canned peas, made corncakes sometimes with left-over corn by adding egg, a little milk and flour, and frying them. We may have even had gravy with them. In summer we had lots of wilted lettuce, which called for bacon grease and the works: vinegar and a little sugar poured over a huge bowl of fresh lettuce.

We had a gristmill that ground our own corn into meal. I am not sure about the whole process, but think it had to be sifted to get some of the hulls out.  This, however, was replaced with corn meal bought from the grocery store later on.  

The pies she made were gooseberry, cherry, blackberry, rhubarb, and mulberries, mixed together or separately. Lemon and gooseberry were Dad’s favorites. The cookies she made were mostly ginger snaps and sugar cookies that I recall.

This is a little of how mom cooked…

Cottage cheese

Mom made cottage cheese, which I think to this day was better than we get in the grocery store. She made it in a large granite pan (dish pan size). She put about three or four gallons of slightly "blinky" milk in the pan and set it on the back of the cook stove. She left it overnight or so until the milk clabbered. She cut it with a long knife into squares and placed the squares in a cheesecloth bag. She hung the bag on the clothesline (that’s how we did it) and left it until it formed into cheese. We seasoned it with a little salt and cream. Some added pepper or a little sugar in place of salt.

The cottage cheese made "thata" way tasted good! This may sound strange: After the curds were skimmed off to put in the cheesecloth bag, the whey remained and some folks like to drink it!! Remember about Little Miss Muffet who sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey?

Grandpa Fisher

If I ever saw Grandpa Fisher, I don't remember. It would have been at some time that he visited Missouri as he had moved to Texas before I was born.

He sent cards and letters through the years, and I have one that he sent me when I was little. It was an Easter card with picture of a little girl sitting with her arms around a rabbit on each side. It’s funny. To be expected, the bunnies were little Jack Rabbits with those long ears!

This is what he wrote:

Robstown,Tex. The little Miss Gladys has been around for two years now and never come to tell grand pa what you were doing in Mo. so long. Some day I may hop in my aireoplane and sail up to your home and invite you to come to Texas and visit us a while. We could have lots of fun. We would visit the Big Water that has no bank on the other side and catch fish for dinner.   grand pa Fisher

About Grandpa William Fisher: 

Born in 1834, Madison County, Indiana. Died 1919 in Robstown, Texas. Buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Corpus Christi, Texas. His father, William, was killed in an accident (no record) when he was five years old. His mother (Lydia (Opdyke) Fisher) later married a widower, Henry Anderson, who had a daughter, Mary Edith, who must have been his only sibling. He met and married Melinda Alice Boyer. They had nine children, my dad being their youngest. Melinda Alice (Boyer) Fisher died when my dad was about seven years old.

Grandpa remained a widower for 10 years. He went back to Indiana to his birthplace on a visit where he courted and married the widow of Benjamin Wise (Ida Hirshenburger Wise). Benjamin's first wife was Mary Edith (Anderson), grandpa's half sister. Ida had three children: Donna, Ernest, and Cosmo, who came with them to Missouri.

Ida and William were the parents of two boys, Willis Allen and Estol Opdyke. They lived on the farm until 1910. They had a sale and moved to Robstown, Texas, where William’s son, Hiram, had gone a few years earlier and bought land.

Estol died at age 21 and Ida aged to 85; both are buried with William at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Baths and spit baths

For washing we used wash pans for hand and face washing and/or a sponge and navy and "spit" baths. Guess the proper name for that type "pan" was wash basin. It was placed on the washstand. Our washstand had drawers for washcloths, towels, combs, soap, and whatever.  A mirror and towel roller were beside the stand. The towels were for hands and face and were made of a soft linen type material.

We took baths at least every Saturday and "spit" baths in between--IF we needed it! Our bathtub was a big wash tub. Sometimes two of us would use the same water IF we weren't TOO dirty. Took turns from one week till the next as to who got to be the first one. Of course the water was heated on the cook stove and/or in the stove reservoir. In summer water was placed in tubs or containers of some sort and set out early in the morning to heat by the sun. This was for the men after they had been working in the fields or whatnot. Kids could get by sometimes by washing their feet only AND their face. Mom would inspect to see if anyone had tried to sneak off to bed with dirty feet. If so she'd make us get up and do it or sometimes wake a kid up to wash their face and/or hands. That was torture.

Windmills

I have been fascinated with windmills since I can remember. We did not have one, but two of our closest neighbors did. The Rickabaugh's windmill was directly across our grape arbor/potato patch. Sometimes it would start squeaking which meant that the wheel needed greasing. For some reason, and if I remember right, their son was afraid of heights and since Port (his dad) was an invalid he asked my dad to do the job. I can remember watching dad climb up there, hoping that he would not fall!

The Hoyets, whose farm joined ours to the south, also had a windmill which was not as tall as the Rickabaugh's. It was across the fence from our pond, and that was the route we kids took when we cut across the pasture on the way to school. The temptation was too great, so some of us would dare to see how far we could climb up it. That idea was short-lived as I suspect SOMEONE told on us. Nevertheless it was fun watching the wheel spin around and the water coming out of the long pipe AND the fact that they did not have to pump the water by hand for their horses and cows.  

Many times when I was over to Tike's house to play we "got" to turn the windmill on or off, as the case might be. And again that longing to have a windmill like theirs. For some crazy reason I always wished to have a windmill but never had that dream fulfilled.

Long after Frank and I were married windmills were almost a thing of the past although some people have kept them and are using the old-time ones to this day.

Water pails

Water buckets (pails) were used to carry water from the outside well and were used for drinking and/or washing hands. They were set on a washstand with a hand wash pan. A long handled dipper was left in the pail. Before the crockery water cooler was thought up, as I remember, we had our own drinking cups. Later the water cooler, which was large enough to hold two or three pails of water, was filled (it had a lid and a spigot). Generally each pupil had a little collapsible drinking cup which might have been a smite more sanitary.

Another water jug was the little gallon ones that kids carried to the men when they were working in the field and at thrashing time. The jug was wrapped in a gunnysack to help keep the water cool. We rode the pony usually and considered it fun. Kids who did that job were called "water boys".