登陆注册
15455600000034

第34章 CHAPTER 12(2)

Dora interrupted and said, 'Not ointment - it's so messy.' And Alice thought so too. And Dicky said he did not mean it, he was quite decided to let it be in bottles. So now it was all settled, and we did not see at the time that this would be a sort of going into business, but afterwards when Albert's uncle showed us we saw it, and we were sorry. We only had to invent the medicine. You might think that was easy, because of the number of them you see every day in the paper, but it is much harder than you think.

First we had to decide what sort of illness we should like to cure, and a 'heated discussion ensued', like in Parliament.

Dora wanted it to be something to make the complexion of dazzling fairness, but we remembered how her face came all red and rough when she used the Rosabella soap that was advertised to make the darkest complexion fair as the lily, and she agreed that perhaps it was better not. Noel wanted to make the medicine first and then find out what it would cure, but Dicky thought not, because there are so many more medicines than there are things the matter with us, so it would be easier to choose the disease first.

Oswald would have liked wounds. I still think it was a good idea, but Dicky said, 'Who has wounds, especially now there aren't any wars? We shouldn't sell a bottle a day!' So Oswald gave in because he knows what manners are, and it was Dicky's idea. H. O. wanted a cure for the uncomfortable feeling that they give you powders for, but we explained to him that grown-up people do not have this feeling, however much they eat, and he agreed. Dicky said he did not care a straw what the loathsome disease was, as long as we hurried up and settled on something. Then Alice said -'It ought to be something very common, and only one thing. Not the pains in the back and all the hundreds of things the people have in somebody's syrup. What's the commonest thing of all?'

And at once we said, 'Colds.'

So that was settled.

Then we wrote a label to go on the bottle. When it was written it would not go on the vinegar bottle that we had got, but we knew it would go small when it was printed. It was like this:

BASTABLE'S CERTAIN CURE FOR COLDS Coughs, Asthma, Shortness of Breath, and all infections of the Chest One dose gives immediate relief It will cure your cold in one bottle Especially the larger size at 3s. 6d.

Order at once of the Makers To prevent disappointment Makers: D., O., R., A., N., and H. O. BASTABLE 150 Lewisham Road, S. E.

(A halfpenny for all bottles returned)

Of course the next thing was for one of us to catch a cold and try what cured it; we all wanted to be the one, but it was Dicky's idea, and he said he was not going to be done out of it, so we let him. It was only fair. He left off his undershirt that very day, and next morning he stood in a draught in his nightgown for quite a long time. And we damped his day-shirt with the nail-brush before he put it on. But all was vain. They always tell you that these things will give you cold, but we found it was not so.

So then we all went over to the Park, and Dicky went right into the water with his boots on, and stood there as long as he could bear it, for it was rather cold, and we stood and cheered him on. He walked home in his wet clothes, which they say is a sure thing, but it was no go, though his boots were quite spoiled. And three days after Noel began to cough and sneeze.

So then Dicky said it was not fair.

'I can't help it,' Noel said. 'You should have caught it yourself, then it wouldn't have come to me.

And Alice said she had known all along Noel oughtn't to have stood about on the bank cheering in the cold.

Noel had to go to bed, and then we began to make the medicines; we were sorry he was out of it, but he had the fun of taking the things.

We made a great many medicines. Alice made herb tea. She got sage and thyme and savory and marjoram and boiled them all up together with salt and water, but she WOULD put parsley in too. Oswald is sure parsley is not a herb. It is only put on the cold meat and you are not supposed to eat it. It kills parrots to eat parsley, I believe. I expect it was the parsley that disagreed so with Noel. The medicine did not seem to do the cough any good.

Oswald got a pennyworth of alum, because it is so cheap, and some turpentine which every one knows is good for colds, and a little sugar and an aniseed ball. These were mixed in a bottle with water, but Eliza threw it away and said it was nasty rubbish, and I hadn't any money to get more things with.

Dora made him some gruel, and he said it did his chest good; but of course that was no use, because you cannot put gruel in bottles and say it is medicine. It would not be honest, and besides nobody would believe you.

Dick mixed up lemon-juice and sugar and a little of the juice of the red flannel that Noel's throat was done up in. It comes out beautifully in hot water. NoEl took this and he liked it. NoEl's own idea was liquorice-water, and we let him have it, but it is too plain and black to sell in bottles at the proper price.

NoEl liked H. O.'s medicine the best, which was silly of him, because it was only peppermints melted in hot water, and a little cobalt to make it look blue. It was all right, because H. O.'s paint-box is the French kind, with Couleurs non Vgngneuses on it.

This means you may suck your brushes if you want to, or even your paints if you are a very little boy.

It was rather jolly while Noel had that cold. He had a fire in his bedroom which opens out of Dicky's and Oswald's, and the girls used to read aloud to Noel all day; they will not read aloud to you when you are well. Father was away at Liverpool on business, and Albert's uncle was at Hastings. We were rather glad of this, because we wished to give all the medicines a fair trial, and grown-ups are but too fond of interfering. As if we should have given him anything poisonous!

His cold went on - it was bad in his head, but it was not one of the kind when he has to have poultices and can't sit up in bed.

But when it had been in his head nearly a week, Oswald happened to tumble over Alice on the stairs. When we got up she was crying.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 婉云夫人

    婉云夫人

    有人说,人的出生不能选择,但是以后究竟要成为哪种人,还是可以努力一下的。但是这话落在穿到了古代家生子奴婢身上的婉云来说,好像有点困难。无故逃家,打死。干活不努力,打死。不会体察上意,打死。作为一个小奴婢,以后会长成一个大奴婢的婉云,命运基本已经对她恶意满满了。不过,即便这辈子差不过也就能够看见未来究竟是个什么走法的婉云,还是深沉的表示,也许,这辈子自己也许还可以,挽救,一下?
  • 蔷薇花开

    蔷薇花开

    一个被收养两次的女孩,十三年后在曾经生活的城市遇到了那个对她念念不忘的同桌,从此粉色爱情上演。同时,另一个女孩的出现与家庭的门第观念让这段感情遇到了障碍。未曾预料,一场意外让两个人走到了一起,但蜜月却让年轻帅气的男孩成了残疾。命运就像一个魔鬼,没有让这对年轻人在婚姻中享受到甜蜜。女孩隔海的网上情感,被男孩所知,而追求他的女孩则变成了情人…
  • 哔了鬼了

    哔了鬼了

    常听人说日了狗了,但狗剩子更是牛逼轰轰,人家是日了鬼。没错狗剩子的确日了只女鬼,从此便被女鬼缠住。狗剩子与村花打娘胎便指腹为婚,但提亲时,却遭对方嫌弃,狗剩子一气之下豪言句:“今天你们狗眼看人瞧不起俺,明天俺一定让你们高攀不起。”从此狗剩子离开了落后的山村,一人一鬼踏上了都市征程,是咸鱼翻身,还是破罐破摔?《哔了鬼了》将为您揭晓答案
  • 王俊凯之迷上我的四叶草

    王俊凯之迷上我的四叶草

    当高冷腹黑王俊凯遇上呆萌乐天苏紫琪,两人会擦出什么火花呢?本文爆笑宠萌不弃坑,请放心入坑!
  • 萌妻鲜嫩:饿狼老公,喂不饱

    萌妻鲜嫩:饿狼老公,喂不饱

    轰动全城的盛世婚礼,新郎为了继妹掐着她脖子怒吼:“要我娶你,做梦!”她一下子成为笑柄,转眼,军区首长爱将,帝国第一权少,亦是新郎舅舅的陆慕轩登门要娶她,她答应假戏真婚,进了民政局。婚后:“夫人,该履行夫妻义务了,一月休一次。”她不信邪:“老公,你行吗?不行别勉强啊!”看似温润的男人,用行动证明,他很行!!!第二天她彻底怒了:“骗子!离婚!我要离婚。”他不是说他不喜欢女人是个gay么?为毛还能夜夜凶猛爱?陆慕轩宠溺笑着:“夫人,莫非昨晚没满足?没关系,继续!”“唔……”被人堵住红唇,再次被扑倒的沈念倾简直日了狗!谁能告诉她,要怎么面对床上禽兽,床下君子的老公?
  • 末世重生之婢女不掉价

    末世重生之婢女不掉价

    天地异变,星转斗移,转眼万载已过。她,2022年某名牌大学的学生,虽然分数年年吊车尾,但好歹也是一位才华横溢外加‘钱’途无量年轻有为的国画大师。末日后一朝醒来退化为一位三岁伪萝莉,却从此多了一双对她疼爱有加的爹娘,外加一枚视妹为天的哥哥。为了爹娘不得不委身于醋海长大的小胖子为小婢女。为了大哥前途着想,不得不进入学院成为众学子的敌视对手。为了家人的安全,不得不修炼坑爹功法,原本人见人爱,花见花开的粉嫩女娃,愣是被整成体型堪比施瓦辛格的绝世光头小妹。没有修仙的潜质,天生废体?放屁,单手照样能把你们虐打的满脸桃花朵朵开。没有修炼资源?跪地求取?呸,我有仙家之塔,随意种点小菜堪比万年仙果。嘎嘎,我,一‘没姿色’,二‘没潜质’,三‘平庸无能’,耐何天上月老大开后门,各路小鲜肉,美颜大叔,千年童颜老叔,任凭姐随手挑捡,不爽的,可以出来单挑。本文一对一,比纯净水还纯,请各位大大们,放心阅览。
  • 笑傲之劳德诺大传

    笑傲之劳德诺大传

    呵呵,劳德诺,大家都知道,就是偷了紫霞秘籍那位二师兄。总之,这是一个反派猥琐大叔的逆袭之路~
  • 恋雨倾城

    恋雨倾城

    许诺只是一个学生,他只希望好好学习,以及与亲人相伴。他不求奢华,只求家庭圆满。
  • 091地理考察队

    091地理考察队

    灯红酒绿的繁华都市下到底隐藏着多少秘密,纸醉金迷的男女从未注意过墙角贪婪蜷伏的阴影……刘晨易是一个普通的二流大学生,一场火灾却将他拖入了另一个不为人知的暗黑世界。
  • 独宠妖孽徒儿

    独宠妖孽徒儿

    艾浅,人如其名,嗜钱如命。不,该说嗜钱胜命!为了一张面值一百元的钞票送掉了自己的花季生命!然后……穿越到了一个仙侠世界。重生后的艾浅会改掉自己爱钱的性子吗?答案是NO!穿越过来就莫名其妙的被一群乞丐打,想她艾大小姐何曾受过这种苦,不过幸好因此得了个便宜师父。被称为魔星又怎么样?有师父大人无条件的宠着,管你什么牛鬼蛇神都爬远点。她艾浅呢,就继续她的敛财生涯。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)