CHAPTER X

THE MEDICINE CLOSET

"WELL," said Ruth, as they gathered around the supper table that evening, "the bathroom is all finished. Even the towels and soap are there. I can scarcely wait to take a bath in the new tub."

"It isn't quite finished, Ruth," replied her Mother. "To-morrow I want to go down to Bradley's to get several things, and while I am there I am going to buy some supplies for your medicine closet."

"But we are scarcely ever sick," objected Paul, "and when we are, you hardly ever give us any medicine.”

"I don't mean, dear, that I am going to buy a lot of medicine to dose you with. But sometimes accidents happen, and I want you the have a few simple remedies in the bathroom cabinet which you will know how to use in case of an accident."

"What sort of accidents are we likely to have, do you think?" asked Ruth.

"Well," said Father, "I think you will be a good deal luckier than most young cooks if you don't sooner or later burn your hands."

"And what ought we to get to put on a burn?" inquired Paul.

"If it is just a little burn that makes a red mark, said Mother, "a spoonful of baking soda with a few drops of water will make a paste that will take the pain away very soon. Such a soda paste is very good for mosquito bites, too, and any sort of sting."

"Last summer," put in Paul, "Jim Nixon and Kid Frost found an empty hornets' nest and they started to poke it down, but it wasn't empty at all and the hornets came out as mad as anything and stung Jim and Kid awfully. They came running down the road screaming 'bloody murder,' and old Mr. McGinnis met them and he took a big lump of mud and plastered it on their faces. Jim said it helped a lot."

"Yes," said Father, "mud or any sort of paste that keeps the air out will help a burn or sting. But for a really bad burn, or one where the skin is off, I think you had better have some sweet oil. Such burns need something oily or greasy to soothe them.

And over the oil you will need a bandage of ster

"What's that?" asked Paul.

"It is fine cheese-cloth that has been treated so that all germs on it have been killed. You know that if germs get into a wound it is likely to fester and be very sore or even make a wounded person dangerously ill. During the war, you know that Mother and you children, too, helped to make a great many bandages. These bandages were afterward sterilized-dipped in a sort of liquid that killed all the germs. Then when a bandage was put on some poor, wounded soldier, there was no danger of his wound getting any germs from the bandage. We'll buy some bandage-gauze like this for your medicine closet and then, if you cut your finger, it will be useful."

"But," said Mother, "before putting on the bandage, you must be sure that there is no dirt in the cut. That is why, if it is at all dirty, I want you to hold a cut under the faucet and then put on some listerine or alcohol and water, before putting on the bandage.”

"I'm going to get a pencil," declared Ruth, "and make a list of what we must put into the medicine closet. Let's see, for slight burns and stings, we want some baking soda. For burns where the skin is off we want some sweet oil. For cuts, we need some listerine, or alcohol to clean them and some sterile bandaging to tie them up.

"I didn't know that alcohol was any good," said Paul. "I thought it was just used to make wine and whiskey."

"Alcohol is like most things in the world, Paul," said his Father. "It is useful or harmful, according to how it is used. It is very harmful to drink it, for it weakens the heart, makes your eyes and ears less keen, overworks your liver and kidneys, makes your nerves 'shaky' and if you get into the habit of taking it, makes you such a slave that you feel you can't get on without it. It isn't a food, at all, but a dangerous drug, as people are beginning to realize, and never ought to go into anyone's stomach unless the doctor orders it as a medicine, like any other drug. But for use on the outside of your body, it is very good. As Mother has said, it kills germs. I wonder whether you children know the right and wrong way to take out splinters."

"I always just take a pin and dig," said Paul. "Of course, it hurts, but I don't care."

"I'm glad you are brave, son," replied Mother, "but I want you also to be sensible. There is an old proverb, 'Discretion is the better part of valor,' which means that bravery isn't of much use without good sense. Now it isn't sensible to 'just dig' into your finger with a dirty pin or needle. Pins and needles are apt to have germs on them. Then, too, your finger itself is sometimes dirty. Can't you see that if you dig into a dirty finger with a dirty pin, you are just planting germs in your wound?"

"Never thought of it before," admitted Paul. "Well, what is the right way?"

"The right way is to wash the finger thoroughly in a little alcohol, so there are no germs on it. Then

dip a needle into the alcohol. Then 'dig' for the splinter. Alcohol is good, too, for rubbing on bruises and sprains. Almost all the liniments for rheumatism and lameness are mostly alcohol. If you get a bad bruise, put as hot water on it as you can stand, and then put on some cold water with alcohol in it. Yes, indeed, we must have some alcohol in our closet, but to use outside, not inside."

"Suppose," said Paul, "I got a really bad cut, like Luke Evans last summer. He was playing in the barn and he fell right on a scythe and cut his leg dreadfully. It bled lots, kept coming in sort of spurts."

"He must have cut an artery," said Father. "You know, the arteries are the pipes that carry the blood from the heart to all parts of the body and the veins carry the blood to the heart. When a vein is cut, it does not bleed so fast, isn't quite such a bright red and doesn't come in 'spurts,' as Paul says. If anyone is badly cut, you should call help and get a doctor at once, for if a person loses too much blood, he will be very ill or may even die."

"But suppose you can't find a doctor right away," said Ruth.

"In that case," said Father, "you must stop the bleeding until the doctor comes. If the blood is coming in spurts, you may know that the blood is coming from the heart, so you must press on the artery between the cut and the heart, so as to stop the blood. The easiest way to do this is to tie a handkerchief tightly around the arm or leg above the cut. Then