Coal Camp Kids

If there was one thing us coal camp kids had, it was a good company doctor. Ours was Doctor Crawford. He was the best. I used to go see him at least once a week. I always told him I had a cold and needed some cherry cough syrup. Doctor Crawford gave me a bottle that he would refill with cherry syrup. He would get a big kick out of me forcing a good cough so I could get a refill. Now that was not the only reason I went to the doctor. One time I was convinced I had the “yellow jaundice.” I told him all about my symptoms. I said, “Look in my eyes the whites are yellow. My skin is turning yellow, and Doctor Crawford (I whispered this part) I even pee yellow. He thought that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Still he gave me a bottle of pills (vitamins I think). He said to tell my daddy I should have some candy and all the fruit juice I could drink until it cleared up. Mom was in the hospital and Doctor Crawford made a special trip to tell her of my latest illness. That doctor was sometimes amazed at my diagnoses, like the time I took my cousin in and informed the doctor, she had the seven-year itch, and she did. I further advised him that I didn’t want to get it. I must have heard my mother say that. Well the good doctor took care of our dilemma. She smelled like sulfur for a while and then she was ok.

I could look at a poison ivy plant and break out all over. When that happened, the doctor would come to the house and give me a shot to clear it up. Sometimes I would invent a little disease just so I could go and talk to the doctor. I took all my brothers and my sister for their immunization shots for school. They wouldn’t cry if I promised them a sucker. He always kept a drawer of them somewhere in that office. Judy Bartley took her little brothers too. I don’t know if she got a sucker or not. In the coal camp, the older sister did a lot of things that their mothers should have done. It was a way of life for us. Doctor Crawford was a good man and an excellent doctor. He brought a lot of joy to the coal camp kids. Sometimes a trip to the doctor’s office was the highlight of my day. If I got my bottle of cough syrup, the good feeling could last a couple of days, if I sipped it slowly.