Story told to Donna Swagerty Shreve by Elmer Swagerty, 1972
Pearl had contacted some disease that required taking some liquid medicine several times a day. Elmer took a spoonful of the medicine first as Pearl watched. He put the medicine in his mouth and swallowed all without any expression on his face. Then Pearl tried it. She immediately pounded on Elmer’s chest calling him a liar as he hadn’t reacted to the horrible taste of the medicine. A generation later, the Swagerty clan was camping at Big Basin. There was a nice stream near by the camping spot that would make a good swimming hole. Clem jumped in first as the rest of the boys watched. When Clem came up for air and the water was great, the rest of the boys jumped into recently thawed snow runoff. They are now screaming and Clem is laughing.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 