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Sources: 1Benjamin Brown's writings 2Hannah's daughter-Belle Palmer, Salt Lake City 3Gunnison Valley News, March 12, 1970 PACKING PEOPLE'S PILLS Lois S. Brown Manti, Utah Non-Professional Division First Honorable Mention Anecdote My doctor father let me help him fill his little black bag with pills each morning before he started out to see his patients. In the early 1900's he visited the sick in several small towns. Since there were few cars it was difficult for people to get to the drug store, so the doctor carried a supply of pills with him. For this purpose he had a small black bad with rows of small bottles. These he filled each morning from the tall brown bottles in his cup-board. The highlight of my day was, when I had been good, to help him fill the bottles. My work seemed terribly important to me. First my hands were properly cleansed, then Dad would hand me a big bottle of pills and a small bottle which I was to fill. He also let me fill the corner of his case with the tiny bright-colored envelopes in which he would give the patient the pills. How proud I would feel when he handed me a dozen or so pills and said, "Put these in here for a little girl who has been ill for a long time," or "These are for an old lady who can't walk any more." I would choose carefully an envelope of a color that I knew that particular person would like, and my tears and prayers went into that little package to someone I loved but usually didn't even know. It seemed to me that there must be a pill to cure every illness, but at that time there were not too many different kinds. I know that the ingredient in the pills did not help the way miracle drugs of today do, but people did get well. The love and faith people had in the kindly doctor and God, and the love devotion and prayers the doctor and his small -5- |
