The Elk County Advocate

A Good Painkiller.

Faith Rochester writes very pertinently in the American Agriculturist about the folly of taking so many patent prescriptions for common complaints. Working people cannot lie by on account of illness if they have strength to crawl about, and so they think they must take something. There is a good deal in a name, and when people are in much pain, of course they want a "painkiller!" Outside or inside, no matter—kill the pain at once. So they seem to think, and in ignorance take anything which recommends itself as able to relieve their sufferings. When our little girl pulled a heavy piece of iron from the table upon her foot, crushing it so that we thought she would be unable to use it for a long time, her suffering was extreme.

"We ought to have some painkiller in the house!" exclaimed a member of the family, who was as ignorant of the component parts and especial powers of that medicine as I am myself.

"What for?" I asked, and he replied: "The child never can bear such pain long. It is horrible."

But we set to work with cold water, pouring it constantly upon the bruised part for about an hour. Relief begun immediately, and the child was unwilling to have any cessation of the bath until the pain was all gone. It seemed almost a miracle to see that little girl running about on both feet in less than two hours after the accident, and never afterward to hear another word of complaint about the badly bruised foot. Nor was there ever afterward any hint in our house of the need of a "painkiller" or other patent medicine. Vigorous rubbing is often better than water to relieve pain.