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Chapter II

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CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN OF MRS. JOE PERSON'S REMEDY

I was born and reared in Petersburg, Virginia, where I lived until December 1857, when I was united in marriage to Joseph Arrington Person, a prosperous farmer of Franklin County, North Carolina. We came direct to his lovely country home, where I was surrounded by all of the comforts and many of the luxuries attending such a life in the old days of the South. My husband was possessed of independent means and I found that my lines had indeed been cast in pleasant places. Not a care, not a responsibility, not a thought or fear for the future did I have. We both came from old families, who had never known aught save of the elegancies and refinements of life, and no one could have felt more secure than I. That I should lose it all, that I should have to work for my bread, that I should be poor, had never occurred to me. What a blessing it is that the future should be revealed a page at a time! We could never have strength for the conflict did we know what was before us, and we should flinch and we should quail before the ordeal, regardless of, and notwithstanding that mighty Power; so, as it is, is best.

The first heart trouble I ever knew was when my husband organized a company of volunteers in ‘63 and told me he felt he must leave me at his country's call. In command of the company he left and life seemed over for me. The world was dark, nothing was left, my husband was away and in danger. It was at that time that my heart first really turned to God. My life became a long continued prayer--a prayer that God would send my husband back to me, and I am afraid now that I did not care very much how he came back, I only wanted him to come, and am afraid that my affection was stronger than my patriotism. I sought comfort in my Bible, and I found that God wanted me to fast as well as pray; as a condition for an answer to prayer I entered into the cause and thought, ''Well, my Father, I will do anything you ask of me or require, if it will cause you to send my husband back to me”, and so I divided my days between God and between Nature. One day I would eat, the next I would fast; not a morsel or crumb of anything would I touch, not a drop of water for twenty four hours. Then my usual meals, never more, and so I alternated the days, rigidly fasting every other day for three weeks.

How I promised my God if he would only grant my prayer, that

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I would serve him the balance of my days.

One day, sitting in my room, with the burden almost greater than I could bear, one of the Negroes came in almost shouting, "Oh mistress, the Master's coming", and I went to the door to meet my husband, honorably discharged, as totally unfit for military service. He had, years before, been thrown from his horse in a fox hunt, and his leg been badly broken in two places, and he could do nothing as a soldier, so once again life began for me in earnest.

At the first visit of Bishop Atkinson in '63, I was confirmed a member of the Episcopal Church.

Three bright and beautiful children came to bless our union and we were very happy. My husband was one of the handsomest men I ever saw, and he retired in perfect health one memorable night, but awoke me before morning and told me he was paralyzed and directed me to summon the physician from Franklinton. It was a terrible stroke, affecting his whole left side, and for weeks he hovered between life and death. For weeks he could not even move a muscle, but nature and a strong constitution helped the cause and conquered, in a measure.

Then came the Surrender, which was only another chapter of calamity and so the shadows of life had indeed begun to fall across my path.

At one fell stroke our means of income were swept away and we were left, as were so many Southerners, with only a tract of land, which my husband was powerless to look after, and a family of little children depending upon us. Our income became less and less and I knew we were becoming poorer and poorer each year, and I also knew we were powerless to stem the tide.

My husband's condition improved so that he could walk around some, look after his stock, hitch his horse to the buggy and visit his neighbors, could saddle his horse and ride to town, but, as a man of business, his career was ended.

In the course of time I saw that the health of one of our little ones was failing and we called in the services of a physician, who pronounced the trouble Scrofula. This sounded like a death knell to me. Regardless of every care and attention that could be given, the child became dangerously ill, and we felt that the end was near. Before leaving one afternoon, the doctor said, "Mrs. Person, as long as there is life there is hope, but I do not think your child can possibly stand it another night. I think she will pass away before morning."

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While my child was in this condition and virtually at death's door, a woman living near came to see me and said she heard I had a child afflicted with Scrofula, and she had come to cure her! I could but smile at her earnestness, and told her she came too late, that I looked upon our child as dying and past all hope, and I did not expect her to live until morning. She said if the child was bound to die, it could do no harm to try her medicine. I protested. I did not wish to torture the child with any more medicine, as I felt it would be useless. She again appealed to me, saying, "I came to save your child, and you will not even let me try; you do not know what you are doing''. She said an old Indian gave the recipe to her father, and she had never known it to fail.

Impressed by her earnestness, we concluded to try it, so together we went to the woods and gathered the ingredients--the identical ingredients of which my Remedy is made today. She showed me how to prepare the medicine and we gave some to the child. Before leaving me she told me to continue to give it regularly through the night, and I would see the ground she had for her great faith in it. I followed her directions, with not a shadow of faith or hope.

The next morning the child was better, and in three weeks, she was well!

This was the origin in of my Remedy.

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