Some others would get a salt herring, if they had a real bad sore throat. They'd wrap it in a little cloth and tie it around the throat. I never tried it myself. My husband tried it. He said it worked. His sore throat went away.

Three children in my husband's family died of diphtheria, in one week. He was the baby of the family. The doctor used to come and give them something he called the "kill or cure." When he'd come back the next day they would be dead. Three died like that.

In those days, the grandmother was the boss in the house. When couples married, the grandmothers lived in. When children came, there would be three generations in one house at the same time.

They told my husband Mike this story when he got older. This time, the old grandmother was there when the doctor came. The doctor was going to give him the "kill or cure."

The grandmother grabbed the doctor and pushed him right out the door!

She said, "You've killed enough now. You get out!"

That was a long time ago. That was in 1900.