poultice

“And thanks to the hair poultice, you appeared to be one Swanburne girl among many,” Miss Mortimer interjected.

This was the result of the Swanburne hair poultice that was applied on a regular basis, to repel lice and fleas and encourage healthy scalps, according to school policy.

“It is just as well,” she thought ruefully, as she worked a fresh coat of Miss Mortimer’s poultice into her hair.

“I think you have not been using the Swanburne hair poultice, as I asked you to do; am I right? Well, we shall discuss that shortly.”

I was a middle-class kid from New Jersey, but like a poultice, this ancient, colonized country drew out an answering difference from my bones.