Irish Scene May/June 2020 Edition

ROMANCING THE PAST

BY MARIE MALONEY Many TV programs and stories can make the past seem like a wonderful place. Whenever I see pictures of Marie Moloney (who Temple Bar as it is today my mind died in early April flashes back to the Temple Bar of the 2020) was a loved 1940’s with rows of washing hanging figure in the Irish across the street. community and Life in inner city Dublin during my many will mourn childhood was hard for many. Large her passing. A gifted families living in cramped conditions story-teller, she shared in a couple of rooms in grand many beautifully old houses which were originally intended for one family. These written and wonderful properties were frequently badly in memories with Irish need of repair and lacked the facilities required for Scene readers. In communal living. It was common to have as many this reprinted story, as fifty human beings living in a house with one Marie reminded us toilet and no bathroom. Infections were rampant of a different era in and treatment sometimes interesting. One practice I remember was children who had whooping cough were taken to breathe in tar fumes from roadworks. medical treatment News of current roadworks was shared by word of mouth and mothers for sick kids in her pushing prams would take the sick children to the site. native Dublin.

I have only one memory of been taken to see a doctor once during my childhood. With large families being normal and incomes low, there never was any money left after the bare essentials were provided.

I was a fairly healthy child with just the usual childhood ailments.

[Editor: I too remember the Senna There certainly were quite a lot of those and on these occasions my Tea Marie Ugh!!! I saw the following mother would take me to see Mr Mushatt at his chemist shop in extract on the web: Harry Mushatt Francis Street. These visits were dreaded experiences for me as Mr set up his “chemist” shop in Dublin’s Mushatt always recommended Senna tea. He was tall, thin and had a poorest tenement district, known as lot of white hair, he also had a very kindly manner. But, without fail, the Liberties in the 1920’s. An excerpt regardless of what my ailment was, he insisted what I needed was from “Dublin Tenement Life” helps more Senna tea, even now the mere thought of this liquid makes me explain what the times were like shudder. However the Mushatts were known all over Dublin for their back then: “You never saw doctors. wisdom in health issues. People came in droves from all directions to You could go to a chemist and even if seek help. Indeed, without this establishment, many people would your throat was cut, he’d give you a not have had any access to health information. cure for it. He’d put a dressing on it.

The Mushatt brothers ran their business in the Liberties area in Mr. Mushatt was in Francis Street - he Dublin for over forty years. They made their own medicines in the was the masterpiece, for a bad chest, back room of the premises and the poor of Dublin believed in them. bad back… from north, south, east Frequently the shop was full of mothers with their sick children, and west, people’d come for them. and the queue spilled out on to Francis Street. Often walking along People trusted him as he concocted the streets of the city people could be overheard discussing the his own old fashioned medicines benefits of Mushatt products and eagerly recommending a visit to in the rear compounding room. His the establishment if any mention was made of feeling unwell. The lotions, potions, and tablets were inexpensive medicines and caring attitudes offered during so many thought to be the purest medicines. years, to the poor in Dublin, is a part of the social history of the city.

People really believed in them, swore There is now a website offering Mushatt’s no 9 products, it is also on by them.”] facebook.

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