Home Remedies

Grandma Ranum was the local blood letter in Rosewood. The bloodletting device was called a scarificator. It has a spring loaded mechanism with gears that snapped the blades out through slits in the front cover and back in, in a circular motion. The case was cast brass and the mechanism and blades where made of steel.

Regardless of the ailment, people came to her to get the impurities out of their system. The village seemed to think it cured all ailments.

It is hard to say how the device came into her hands, by the time she was old enough to be the person of choice, the practice of blood letting for the sake of bleeding had come to an end. It is possible that her mother was a 'letter' too. Perhaps it was one of the few things that came from the old country along with the Bible.

The small brass box sat on the top shelf in a glass and oak case which was in the beginning, a bookcase turned dishes display. I was not allowed to play with it. She would, however, take it out of the cabinet and spring it so I could see the blades. It still makes me shudder. I wondered how many people were walking about with scars from the ordeal. The conversation never went there; she never told exactly where the letting was done. I figured since I didn't ever see the scars, it must be on the rump. Did she not talk about it because it was private? OR was it because she didn't think I needed to know? Why wouldn't she bleed me?

I did understand that barber poles were red for blood and white for tourniquets, and the pole represented the stick one held in ones hand while being bled. From this, I decided that barbers did it in the arm. And every time I saw a barber pole, I thought the barber did what Grandma did.

Daddy had a good friend who was a doctor; he gave the scarificator to him. That is probably best, who knows who I would have tried it on!

Better than leeches, don't you think?

And now that you have lost your breakfast, I will bid you a grand day.

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