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What do you remember from when you were 3 or 4 years old? Something unusual I’d guess.
When I was 3, I locked myself in the bathroom at the neighborhood Peoples Drug Store. I can still hear my blood-curdling screams and see my feet and hands kicking and beating the door. A woman opened the door, and I darted past her desperate to find my mother and sister.
My mom and my sister got to laughing about as they told my dad over dinner that night. I didn’t think it was funny at all. And I’ve never been in that bathroom again.
I found a cure for the itch when I was going through my grandma’s things. The itch must have been pretty bad if the cure was unslacked lime (calcium oxide) and flour of sulfur dissolved in warm water. The body was to be saturated in it and then wait 30 minutes before rinsing it off.
Under the cure itself is a note written in my grandmother’s hand: 1898 by Margaret Thomas. Margaret Thomas was her mother.
My grandmother, Florrie Thomas Martin, turned 4 in late 1898, so how did she know for sure when this was written down, I wondered. It struck me recently…my grandmother probably had the itch and endured the cure.
I imagined her little 3-year old self sitting in an iron tub while her mother saturates her shivery body and dark wavy hair with the repugnant solution.
“Be still, Florrie,” her mother says as Florrie scratches herself here and there.
“It stinks, Mama.”
“I know, but it’ll get rid of the itch. Now sit here a while and I’ll rinse it off.”
How about you? What likely events have you discovered in your family’s history?
Copyright © 2014 Nancy H. Vest All Rights Reserved
You’re right about remembering unusual circumstances at that age. I locked myself in my bedroom by accident when I was 3 or 4, and my dad, who had an artificial leg, had to climb in the window to let me out! I giggled when he came in through the window, but he wasn’t too pleased. I still remember the look on his face 🙂
That cure for the itch sounds none too pleasant!
Oh, my, Catherine! What a memory to have of your dad. I’m sure it’s a cherished one, though. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!