Whats UP down South

Whilst chatting with Kat a few minutes ago, we got on the topic of some of the "old ways". I insinuated that my grandmother loved her cures and pretty much had the attitude that "if it don't kill ya, it'll cure ya". We weren't allowed to go without our shoes until May 1st, and had to be shod again by October 1st. Tee shirts were worn under our clothes from Oct to May and about March every year we got our annual "wormin" which consisted of a drop or two of turpentine in a spoonful of sugar. (I've since read that turpentine is toxic but I'm living proof that it's not so). We also had to take a tablespoon of Grovers Chill Tonic every morning during the winter months. I'm pretty sure that this stuff was what put the "Snake" in Snake Oil. It was a puke gray colored liquid with little black, crunchy bits in it that seemed to find their way back into your teeth all during the day. I feel real sure, now that I'm older and wiser, that these flecks were charcoal or some derivative. I'm also real sure that it would not meet the FDA's approval these days.