Browse:Author Called a Doctor (Volume 1, entries 805–806)
Author Called a Doctor
Volume 1, entries 805–806. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → THE DOCTORS THEMSELVES: BIRTH TO DEATH: DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 805
[While on the subject of becoming a doctor and dwelling with spirits and beina called a radio broadcaster, I might as well pause to describe a few other accomplishments attributed me. Further see interviews with the Mojo Expert of Memphis and the Patient Doctor of Waycross; also Hyatt, H. M., in Index:] Well, ah've heard of people who - of course, mah father used tuh tell stories of this kind because he dealt in this matter. An' he said, if yo' git someone's foot track an' yo' do not want den round, why yo' take dis foot track of the left or de right an' yo' kin bind it with some salt an' throw it in de fire backward ovah yore shoulder an say dey can't come back. [Salt and dirt from foot track are tied up in a small paper package.]
(Which shoulder do you throw it over?)
Over the left one.
(And which track do you throw?)
Out de left foot.
(Did your father work here in Georgia?)
Yeah, he worked - he was doin' de same work that chure doin'.
Entry 806
Sellin' likker yo' mean? If yo's a man makin' moonshine or unstamped whiskey, see. All right. Now, ah'm goin' tell yo' dis heah one 'cause ah done dis mahself an' yo's a doctor an' yo' wanta know all dat. Yo' gits a little piece of red flannel - yo' have seen dis heah red flannel, an' dis brierberry root wit stickers in it.
(It has stickers on it.)
Dat's right. Well, all right, yo' git chew a piece of dat an' git chew six copper pennies, an' have a lamp. Now, yo' don't want nobody see dis lamp - yo have all dis down in de lamp where yo' po' yore oil in it, an' yo' set it ovah dere in dis corner. Well, yo' goin' burn dis oil, see. Well, now if ah come in ah ain't got no business ovah dere in dat corner - see whut yo' doin' ovah dere - have I?
(That's right.)
Well, now, git chew nine pods of red peppah an' put in there, in dat lamp, wit dem six copper pennies. But befo' yo' put dem six copper pennies in dere - to keep anybody from knowing whut yo' doin'; dat is, if yo' kin - stamp ovah 'em, put 'em into a vise, get 'em pressed out. Well, now yo' got chure little shade, yore little secret place heah in dis corner. Well, yo' set dat lamp dere an' yo burn it night an' day, 'cause yore gon'a have customers comin' in all times of de night. Well, yo' burn dat night an' day right dere, but chew kin have a little curtain up dere. Well, dey ain't nobody got no business back dere but chew - dey don't know whut chew doin'.
(That is all you have to do?)
Dat's all yo' got'a do. Ah've seen dat tried.
(And you take the lamp and you put this brier grass in there.)
Now wait. Yo' goin' pull up the sod with it. Yo' pull it up an' take yo' a hatchet 'cause it's hard, an' yo' cut off nine little blue pods.
(Pods or parts?)
Pods, dat's right. Cut it off jes' lak dese round - jes' cut one, two, three, fo', till yo' git de nine. Yo' have yore lamp right 'long wit yo' an' yo' put it in dere. Well, dat kerosene now dat chew use in dis lamp, don't nevah po' none of it out no mo' than go in dat lamp, an' don't let nobody use an' handle dat but chew. Well, yo' handle dat a different way. Yo' ain't goin' trust anybody else with it. Well, all right, dat's all yo' do. (You put the nine pods of that brier grass from the corn field in this lamp. Then you pour the oil on it. Then you take these - how many pennies?) Nine pennies. (Nine pennies and you flatten them out - put them in a vise - hold them in a vise so many days and then you put those in - and anything else you put in that lamp?) Nine pods of peppah - little cayenne red peppah, dese little pods, yo' know 'bout dat long. "An' yo' have yore little shade made right dere an' put 'em in dere an' go out 'bout chure business.
(Nothing else you put in that lamp?)
Nope - jes' dat all. An' yo' burn it night an' day till it burn down. At certain hours when yo' have no customers, git behin' yore curtain, an' feed dat lamp. Yo' ain't got'a burn it high - jes' dat-a-way, re'l dim light. An' if he come right out dere, he ain't comin' in dat place.
(The law won't come in there at all.)
An' yo' kin tell about a man whut has did it - go to 452 Montgomery Street, right round de corner.