|
Years ago, arthritis was a word we never heard. It was rheumatism. Sinus infection was catarrh. By the way, there was a lot of them both. We didn't hear cancer. The word was tumor. Antibiotics were unknown. Therefore, when one got a bad case of pneumonia, he or she was a goner most of the time. I was only three when a terrible influenza epidemic hit the country. I heard terrible stories of the results. The death toll was horrible. Mustard plasters were used for chest colds. Kerosene then was called coal oil. This on sugar was a standard remedy for sore throat. Yes, I remember coal oil lamps and gas lights. In Indiana, my dad pulled oil wells with a pair of "matched greys". The horses were hitched to a rope which went up over a makeshift derrick and a pulley and pulled out the rods. He backed them up to go again. This was circa 1900. The wells were connectd by a "rod line" to each from a big gas engine. These engines would pop, pop, pop all night and day. Later came the wooden derricks and the "walking beam". For a long time, I remembered two of the big gas engines. Now I can only remember the "Bessemer". Some of these days, I will think of the other. Would you believe that some of those shallow wells in Bridgeport, Illinois, where I was born are still pumping oil? |