Aunt Dollie’s Remedies and Tips: 175 Years of Home Remedies

Author and educator Bass has assembled recollections from her childhood centered around a remarkable relative, her Aunt Dollie. With ancestry among the Choctaw peoples, a home in rural Arkansas, and a strong family ethic, Bass recalls the woman she so admired who had a cure or comfort for just about every ailment, symptom, or disease, along with household and gardening advice. One of the first ministrations for which she offered Bass a cure (a heavy cold) was a tea made from “cow chips” (manure). Holding her nose and drinking it very reluctantly, the little girl began to feel better immediately. Dollie’s remedies and recommendations were so beneficial and reliable that even when Bass started college, she would bring her friends to her aunt for cures for anything from tapeworms to tonsillitis, monthly period pain, and insect bites. Too, there were simple “pick-me-uppers” and “springtime tonic” for those who were not sick but just needed a boost in energy and attitude. Ingredients used ranged from homely concoctions of castor oil, catnip, turpentine, and sugar. Aunt Dollie cured the author’s mother of pellagra, a disease that had once plagued their ancestors. The method used seems implausible to those inculcated in modern pharmacology, involving a simple tea made of what was called “yellow root.” Yet it saved a life.

Some of these century-old nostrums do not include medicinal potions. For instance, Aunt Dollie and her forebears would wrap a colicky baby in its father’s coat. In dealing with the house and garden, folk wisdom advises that if a fireplace fire sputters, it is “calling for snow,” which will come within three days. Cheese can be grated more easily if it is chilled. A thread makes a good cake cutter. If you have a right-handed glove but need a left-handed one, just turn the glove inside out. These pieces of advice were treasured and utilized by Dollie, some from printed sources gathered among her relatives and friends, some memorized over many years of community-minded home doctoring.

Bass, a school administrator for thirty-four years, has collected Dollie’s suggestions and wisdom from written sources and her own experience visiting with Dollie, an adventure she always cherished as, she recalls, she could talk with her aunt about anything. The many offerings presented are a gracious gift from Dollie’s generous store of knowledge to present-day readers, who will want to try them and pass them along as Bass has done. Some herbs and older-generation remedies like catnip or coal oil may require some searching to locate, while others like vinegar, honey, or mustard are as available now as they would have been a century or more ago. Along with the remedies and advice gleaned from Aunt Dollie and the senior citizens of Cleveland County, Arkansas, there is a glowing portrait of what life was like in rural America in older times, conveyed by Bass in deftly drawn illustrations and often magical situations that she herself witnessed or experienced. Bass’ sharing of information and insights may enable modern healers or anyone in search of relief to honor Aunt Dollie by following in her footsteps.

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