Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/209

 Miscellanea. 185

Folk-Medicine in Ohio.

Mrs. George A. Stanbery, writes from Adair Arc Terrace, Zanesville, Ohio, U.S.A., as follows :

In Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, lived an old German woman, by the name of Mrs. Harper, who was said to do wonders in curing diseases ; and as I was a small child at that time, these things, talked about in my presence, made a great impression on my mind, but when most needed some of the most important points had fled from my memory. So I wrote to a relative of Mrs. Harper's, a Mr. Samuel Poorman, now of San Francisco, but formerly of Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, thinking that he or some of his family might be able to give me some information. I had also written to a friend in Somerset, asking her to find out for me about the measurements required in the cure for the "decay of the flesh in children." The two letters came together, and both had the desired information. Mrs. Benoni Beckwith, of Somerset, still keeps up the practice, and she very willingly gave me her method, which, by the way, is exactly the same as that used by Grandmother Harper ; and as Mr. Poorman has given me other valuable and (to me) new cures, I will quote from his letter. I am sorry that I shall be obliged to wait to hear from him before sub- mitting a very important cure for relieving persons of pain who have been burned or scalded. He sent me the secret on a separate paper, because it loses its charm by being too generally known ; but he did not say whether or not I might send it to you with the others, so I must wait for permission. A man can give the secret to a woman, or vice versa ; but a woman must on no account give it to a woman. As I am now in possession of the charm I am waiting for some one to burn himself, when I will try my powers.

Grandmother Harper^ s Cure for the Decay of the Flesh. — The child must be brought on three successive mornings, and stripped of all its clothing. Then with a linen string measure the length of the foot seven times. With this string measure the length of the body, commencing at the crown of the head and follow down the back to the tip of the heel. If the length of the child is less than seven lengths of the foot, the child is affected with decay. In this event a loop is formed with this string by holding its ends together between the thumb and forefinger. The loop is then passed over