Browse:Baby (Volume 1, entries 1113–1115)
Baby
Volume 1, entries 1113–1115. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1113
This is a fellah one time dat he wus in love wit a gurl but his parents didn't want him to marry this gurl, you see, an' so they got it in his min' to go away. An' a he wus in love with de gurl an' also de gurl was in love with him. So they tole him, says, "Now, we don't wan' choo to marry dat gurl, we wan' choo to go 'way." He says, "Well." This fellah he gits ready an' goes away. Well this worried this girl so, aftah he goes away dat she take sick, you see. So he goes away. An' he writes a couple'a lettahs home, an' aftah dat he don't write no more at all, you understand. So it's about fo' yeahs befo' he comes back, you understand, an' within this time - within about six months aftah he's gone, you understand, this gurl dies. Well, when they used to court, you understand, dey wus a church, you understand - a graveyard right backa de church, you understand. They set down on de steps there an' court, you know, an' plan for de weddin'. So aftah he'd gone, you understand, this gurl pined away an' died. So, he'd been absent from home about fo' yeahs an' he returned home. An' he don't write dat he's comin' home, you understand - he wants to come home an' surprise his people. So he gits off at de station, you understand, an' walks up about three miles, walking along, till he comes pass this graveyard an' - but befo' he gits to de church he looks up in de graveyard an' he sees a woman comin' out de grave- yard, but he don't pay much attention to it, walkin' along whistlin' to hisself. When she comes down an' comes through an' comes out de gate to de road, he starts to see dat it's de gurl dat he wus in love wid. So he steps in her path. This gurl's dead but he don't know anything about it, you see. So he stopped, you understand. She walked up to him - don't say anything. He speaks to her. He says, "Why, hello," he says, 'how do you feel, Carrie?'" She didn't say anything. He said, "Why Carrie," he says, "you ought to be glad to see me," he says, "I'm glad to see you," He says, "it seems to me that I've been gone long enough." He says, "You know I wus in love wid you and you wus in love wid me. It's funny you won't talk." She wouldn't even hold her head up. So she reaches in her bosom an' she takes out somethin' dat - dat looks like a bokay of flowers, an' she handed it to him. So then she turned back an' goes on back to de graveyard. So he goes on home. Aftah he gits home, you understan' de people's all glad to see him, you know, an' they set down an' talk. An' so he says to his mothah, he says, "Mothah," he says, "don' choo know," he Says, "tonight I wus comin' along," he says, "an' I meets Carrie." He says, "She wus comin' out de graveyard. I don't know whut she do by [there] dis time of night." Well, his mothah she turned aroun' an' looks at her husband. He says, "You didn't see Carrie." "Don't tell me I didn't see Carrie," he says, "I've jis' been talkin' to her," he says, "leavin' de fact [excepting] I wus talkin' to her but she wusn't talkin' to me. She wouldn't say anything, you know. So I ask her why didn't she speak. She wouldn't say anything, ' ' he says. His mothah spoke up an' says, "You didn't see Carrie." He says, "I know bettah. I did see Carrie." His fathah spoke up an' say, "No, you didn't see Carrie. ". He says, "Don't you know one thing, son, he says, "we may nevah wrote to you an' tole you anything about it," he says, "but Carrie died about six months aftah you left." "Why", he says, "it makes no diff'rence when she died," he says, "I saw her tonight." He did. Well he sets down awhile an' he thinks about dis bokay which she give him, an' when he takes the bokay down it's a human bone insteada bokay of flowers. So he looked at it. Now, ever'body's skeared now, you understand. Well they calls in an ole lady there name of Ole Aunt Tracey: She wus suppose to be a witch. So things gotten in such a bad shape, you know, they had to call Ole Aunt Tracey to see how things wus goin' to work. Dey called Ole Aunt Tracey about dis bone you understand. Ole Aunt Tracey says, ["informant proceeds to imitate her voice" - my penciled comment when transcribing original cylinder], "Well er I tell now, '' she says, "it's bes' thing I know er do 'bout de thing," she says, "dis bone you'd better carry it back whare you got it." [This is the magic rite of returning dangerous object to the place found - see No. 903, p.330.] Ohl De boy wants to know how he's gon'a git it back. She says, "Well, about de very same time dat choo met her last night," she says, "you carry it back dere tonight," she says, "an' another thing," she says, "when you carry dis bone back," she says, '"you take a little infant baby wit you, cuz if you don't, you gon'a have trouble. Well, now dis fellah he's skeared an' his parents is all skeared, joo see. So they goes roun' through de country, you understand, an' barers [borrows] a little infant baby, you understan'. He's supposed to carry it. So he sets aroun' home till aftah about time dat he thinks is ever'thing in fairly good shape. He takes dis baby in his arms an' goes on wid dis bone an' he goes on down you understan'. So when he gits near de church he sees her come out de graveyard. But she's walkin' fast dat time - walkin' fast comin' out [as if] she don't wan'a stop. [Then] she stands and looks. So he walks on down, you understan', an' a when he gits purtty close to her, she's lookin' at him den real venimous. So he presents her dis bone. Aftah presentin' her dis bone, she takes it away from him - flaps it out his hand. She says, "Yes, an' if you didn't have dat little infant baby wit joo tonight, I'd tear you up."
Entry 1114
I've also heard that spirits do not appear in a house where there is an infant baby.
Entry 1115
Ah heard dat chew could take graveyard dirt offa a baby's grave an' it would drive away evil spirits. But chew would have to mix dis dirt wit salt an' gunpowders an' it's a perfume yo' git outa de drug sto' - dey call it a - it's a violet perfume dat chew git out de drug sto'. You mix dat together. [Violets are a graveyard flower: Some people say that the unusually large and beautiful violets which the children used to love to gather around the old deserted Seaman property [at Fourteenth and Main Street [[Quincy, Illinois]], but no longer deserted] were unusually beautiful because years and years ago there was a cemetery there, and the graves having fallen into abandon, neglected by any relatives and friends, that the spirits of the dead cultivated the natural flowers for their own sake, and that any that were plucked and taken away immed- iately wilted and died, so that finally none but children ever ventured to pick them. (FACI, 1st ed., No. 10368, p.595; 2ed., No. 15238, p.703.)]