one man’s trash

bottlefinds

After a big rain we get excited to re-explore the property, especially if the creek floods. Yes, lots of trash surfaces and we haul out our big bags to do clean-up each time. But we also make some pretty good finds, as stuff buried for years sometimes get unearthed with the flow of rushing water. Of late? Bottles. Like a 1952 Purex bleach bottle made of amber glass and a flask-style liquor bottle from ’71, the year our house was built. (We think that’s a good sign! 😉 ) And then there’s the Civil War-era bottle that once housed Dr. J. Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters, a medicinal tonic sold to soldiers that was made with a variety of herbs and copious amounts of alcohol. We snatched that up at a flea market for $5 and added it to the collection.

What will the spring rains bring? We’ll see!

 

A description of Dr. Hostetter’s Bitters, United States Almanac 1867…

Hostetter’s Bitters 

Dyspepsia’s pangs, that rack and grind
The body, and depress the mind;
Slow constitutional decay,
That brings death nearer, day by day;
Nervous prostration, mental gloom,
Agues, that, as they go and come,
Make life a constant martyrdom;
Colics and dysenteric pains,
‘Neath which the strong man’s vigor wanes;
Bilious complaints, — those tedious ills,
Ne’er conquered yet by drastic pills;
Dread Diarrhea, that cannot be
Cured by destructive Mercury;
Heralds of madness or the tomb;
For these, though Mineral nostrums fail,
Means of relief at last we hail,
HOSTETTER’S BITTERS medicine sure,
Not to prevent, alone, but cure.

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