Browse:Bath or Ointment (Volume 1, entries 1592–1609)
Bath or Ointment
Volume 1, entries 1592–1609. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION → Urine. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1592
Like somebody put somepin on cheh [here] fo' yo' an' right along yore path and when yo' steps on dis, why you'd have a pain in yore laig. Well, yo' Wouldn't know what caused it but chew would go to someone and dey would tell yo' right away. Git sulphur, spirits of turpentine, put all dat on mah han's - spirits of turpentine [and sulphur] and take mah han' and go to de chamber lye and bath 'em in dat, and go right on dere [to buried cunjure] and take it up. [I can now] go over dere and dey won't ketch me, de pain won't ketch me atall. Ah'd take it [cunjuring object] up and take, carry it to de fork of de road and burn it. When ah carry it to de fork of de road and build a fire under it, why it sparks. Well, it's all gone - it go right back to where it come from, see.
[I now ask informant to repeat part of story I failed to record.]
(How did you say you knew this was laid down out there for you?)
Ah seen de spirit - jest like you'd dream, ah seen de spirit and dey go on showed it tuh me. Ah git up in morning and ah goes right straight to it. See. Ah goes straight to it and ah 11 take and bath mah face and han s in dat - dis urinate in de night, and den ah take de spirits of turpentine and ah saturate mah han's good with dat. See. Den ah'll take dat sulphur and saturate mah hands good and den ah'll go dere to de hole and dig it up. When ah dig it up ah'll pick it up and ah'll take it to de four corners of de road and put it in de middle of de street and burns it. When ah put it down dere and build mah fire under early in de morning or late in de evening, an' when ah do that why dat pops. When it pops it goes back to where it come from.
Entry 1593
A fellow once, named Brown, a root doctor - me and my wife was on de outs. Course I caught her wrong and I went away from her. So he [Brown] was working in the shipyards. He say, "I found a shoe." So I say, "All right, I'll take it." He said it was a right shoe - brand new shoe - just had a little - and he had got that snake's blood and put all on de inside of it. And I put dat shoe on. In nine days time my ankle give away and commence to hurt me and so I says, "Mother, since I been wearing dat shoe Mr. Brown give me," I said, "I been having trouble with my ankle. I think I'll go to de doctor." So she looked at de shoe. So then I went to Dr. Willis and took dat shoe and cut de top off it - the entire top and give it to him and he took it and put it in something and sterilized it and found out it was snake blood. That's Dr. Willis dere - chemistry.
(Dr. Woodard?)
Willis - in the drug store.
(I see - from the drug store and he found it was snake blood?)
Yeah - what he told me.
(What did he put that in to sterilize it, I wonder.)
I don't know. He used a lot of chemistry - you know how dey have chemistry, and it all up-separated off the leather, come off the sweat and ev'rything else. And he said, "That's snake's blood, boy." I said, "It look peculiar cause ev'ry time it rained it would freshen up just like fresh paint, red paint, but when the sun was shining it was dry and looked kind of scaley, you know, kind of brownish looking.
(How did you get rid of that then - from that snake blood?)
Well, I tell you, I got rid of it. My mother took 'bacco. She turned around and took a chicken and she put a chicken poultice on there first. And then she took tobacco and my water and boil it hot and let me put my feet right down in de hot water.
(Did she boil that tobacco and your water together?)
Yes, and put my feet in there. I put it in there ever' night and put salt brine in there and it came all right.
Entry 1594
I had experience of dis myself, I'm fixin' to tell yo' now. I wus goin' wid some woman once. Someone poisoned 'er in some fish an' dey did somepin tuh 'er. An' whutevah dey did, it went true [through] 'er han', broke out in bumps - big large ones 'bout dis size [demonstrates], right true de han'. Yo' could see it. If it hit dere [on one side of her hand], it would come out dere [on the other side of her hand] - look like dey connect wid one 'nothah. Feets an' han's. An' she couldn't put 'er foot on de floah [floor]. I goes me to work an' I got me some Brown Mule [trademark] tobacco. I got me some snuff, Railroad Mail [trademark]. I got me some sulphah. I got me some salt, some salts physic [probably Epsom salts], an' got me some of 'er watah an' some of mine. I mixed it togethah. I say, "Save me all de watah you kin fer de nex' hour or two, [that is] as much as yo' git fer de nex' night er [or] day." I mixes all dat togethah an' I boil it good. I set up wid 'er 'bouts couplea days an' nights er mo' bathin' [bath-ing, not bathe-ing] 'er feets. She couldn't touch de floor [her feet pained so much]. Well, I kep' bath-in' 'er an' kep' bath'in' 'er in dat stuff, an' kep' bath-in' 'er in dat stuff till fin'lly I cured 'er like dat. Den I went an' got some of dis potash fer 'er tuh take - jes' a little bita watah. Yo' kin take dat very easily in a little watah.
(How did she get this way?)
At someone's house she got dataway by eatin'. I know it. I went to a fortune teller. Dey tole me dat dat wus zackly how she got it. Dey even picked it out [while running the cards] an' it was some of 'er own people did it.
(Did the fortune teller tell you what to do?)
Dey didn't tell me. A ole woman tole me dis long long years ago. She always tole me, she says, "Yo' look out, '' she says, "whenevah dat to happen an' know whut tuh do fo' yoreself, if anyone hurt yo'. Git dat an' bath [not bathe] yore- self from de knees on down [see p.369] an' it'll nevah cause no swellin' in de knees." It didn't swell a bit.
Entry 1595
Ah heard that yo' could take chamber water, chamber lye - jes' lak yo' got sores anywhere on yore flesh or on yore skin, yo' kin take yore chamber watah an' 'noint 'em sores each day an' fin'lly at last yo'll git rid of 'em.
Entry 1596
If yo' got a bad cold an' yo' nostrils all stopped up - somepin lak dat, yo' kin jes' take yore chamber lye, yore own chamber lye an' wash yore face an' it will help yo'. Some people use it fo' rough skin, dey chamber lye.
Entry 1597
At one time I was off from my work and my wife was sweeping our back yard and she swept over a jelly jar. It was stopped up and turned bottom up in the yard. By the sun shining I see that jar and I stopped and asked her what was that shining. I thought it was a piece of money. So I went there and dug it up out of the ground in my back yard. I came to the steps and I opened it. It had some kind of powder.
(Do you know what the powder was?)
No, I don't know what kind - it was a brown powder.
(All right - go ahead.)
And something like a sponge was mixed up and stopped in there. When I opened it, it knocked me down when I inhaled it. [As I explain elsewhere, this sort of thing is a hyperbole, not a lie.] Later on, my wife's leg broke out - swole up rather, and my leg swole up. And we heard of a man who could tell you things, and we went there and he told me that I had stepped over something. And I asked him what could he do for it. He told me that he believed through the help of God that he could cure me. And I told him that I would be pretty glad if he would. And he got some ashes, some salt, some red pepper and some chamber lye and he mixeded that up in a pan - stirred it thoroughly well and he took and got us there to the pan and washed our leg down, washed this leg down. So later on, two or three days maybe, the leg went down, and it broke out little skin - little dry lookin' skin on there. Well, all of that come off and my leg began to get all right.
Entry 1598
Use chamber lye an' stop poison. Jes' take it an' boil it - grate a dime an' put it in it an' boil it wit red peppah an' wash, bathe it down. Dat'll kill poison. (You mean poison that someone has put into you like live things, things of that sort?) Yes sir, like skippers - something like dat.
Entry 1599
Well they claim, if you near-sighted or somepin like that in your eyes an' mis'ry in yore haid all the while, they say you take chamber lye an' heat wit salt you know for pains. You bathe the haid an' the steam that choo - hol' [hold your head] you know over the bucket like that. You put salt in it. Sometime it git ole. They say the older it gits you know an' smell [the better]. A man, his daughter use it one day. She was near-sighted. She couldn't see atall. An' she bathe in that for a week [7 days] an' when de week out after she'd used it, then she could see.
Entry 1600
My sister wus tricked. She wus tricked from water from a pump. Whut- evah dey did dey jis' put into de pump. An' it made her eyes sore an' she thought she wus goin' blind, an' so dey had de doctor. An' de doctor couldn't cure her. Everything he did for sore eyes it didn't do any good. So my mothah - de first whut started to heal it, she put a salt poultice to it with [corn] meal and salt. Well, dat kin'a holp a little. An' den somebody tole 'er de thing to get 'er to see wus to let a child have an action [of urine], an' den put it in an' ole cup an' put some salt in dere an' cook dat, an' dis [jis'] put de necked [naked or bare] thing right ovah 'er eye an' dat'd draw 'er sight back to her. An' dat's whut cured her.
Entry 1601
It's a way dey kin throw dere water [urine] befo' de sun rise.
(How do they do that?)
Well, dey takes saltpeter, dat's whenevah a person is hurt - ah knows dey take saltpeter an' red peppah an' chamber lye an' bath [not bathe] in it an' take it an' throw it out befo' de sun rise.
(That will cure them?)
Yes sir.
Entry 1602
[Here is a belief similar to the preceding and following ones but without the bath:] Ah heard 'em say yo' take yore chamber watah - yo' know, in de mawnin' 'fore sunrise take it an' throw it sunset an' it would keep all harm [away].
(How would you throw it?)
Throw it ovah yore left shoulder lak that [demonstrates] an' don't look back. (The water that was made that night and you throw it at [before] sunrise in the morning?) Yes.
The informant reports a chamber-water practice said to keep harm away; its effect is unverified and away is an editorial insertion.
Entry 1603
They told me to go to the drug store and get some saltpeter - saltpeter and take my urine when I, you know, urinate and put it in warm water.
(Put it in some warm water.)
And put my feet in that and wash my feet with it. Carry it to my back door. Throw it over my left shoulder and walk back in the house and don't look back.
(That'll keep them from harming you?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 1604
An' right in mah laig heah - ah couldn't move an' ah couldn't walk but mah sistah would bring whut ah'd tell her tuh me. Ah tole her, ah said, "Now yo' bring me a basin an' when ah urinate," ah said, "ketch dat fo' me." See, she Saved it twice, that made enough you know tuh bathe wit yo' see. An' then ah had her tuh bring me some salt an' some saltpeter. Den ah sent her tuh de drug sto' an' bought me some John de Conker an' ah had her tuh bathe me from heah out to de end of mah toes on both laigs. Ah jis' couldn't walk.
(What did you do with that John the Conker?)
Ah kept it roun' in mah pocket - jis' keep it in yore pocket.
(Why did she bathe you down that way?)
[Informant does not understand my question, I do not reask it. I wanted her to answer, "That made the cunjure go out through my toes."] She bathe me down dat way. Yo' know that cured it. Yo' see, this saltpeter an' this chamber lye an' table salt, it'll cure it. An' aftah she bathe me three times in dat ah got so ah could stretch out mah laigs an' jis' kept on an' kept on an' fin'lly till ah got up from bed an' went tuh walkin'. An' dat's whut cured me.
Entry 1605
If someone tryin' to put a spell on you, you make water and bathe in it fer nine mawnin's and throw dat watah toward de sunset.
Entry 1606
Ah hear dey say if yo' git hurted an' it ain't inside yo', yo' 'noint wheresomevah dis mis'ry is fo' nine mornin's an' de last morning dat chew 'noint it, why yo' throw de chamber lye whut yo' 'noint yoreself with - throw it sunrise an' it would kill it.
Entry 1607
Why they dress that hat fo' yo' head, an' they take that same chamber lye, as ah tole yo', an' bath that hat in it, saturate it in that water, and then bath yore head fo' nine mornin's that way. That relieves yo', yo' see in de haid.
(If they dressed your hat.)
Entry 1608
Yo' kin take and get saltpeter, you kin get the brine offa mack'rel fish, mix chamber lye with this. Now, I know this is real 'cause I did this - that happened to me. You bathe in that but you set in yore door, if you got a door facing the east. You set there, you bathe whatever parts that hurts you or that feels peculiar. You bathe that for nine mornings and yo' be all right.
(But you must sit right in that door facing the east?)
As the sun rise and do that for nine mornings, and as you do that, you mention the Lord's Name - say this, "In the Father, Son and de Holy Ghost."
(And you bathe. What time do you bathe yourself?)
Jest as the sun rise.
Entry 1609
How dey cure it - well it's very easy. Yo' use your own chamber lye, salt and red pepper and bath in it nine times - nine mornings.
(Nine times?)
No, jes' nine mornings, and you bath over running water - you know, either has a hydrant or anything where the Water is running. [In Brunswick, Georgia, a Woman buried something over the waterpipe coming from the street into the house.] And you bath in it and then you say a prayer when you bath in it and it'll carry that away, because nothing kin go against salt and pepper.
(What sort of a prayer would you use?)
Jest the Lord's Prayer.
(You say this happened to you?)
That happened to me.
(How was your hand harmed? How did they fix your hand that way?)
Don't know how they fixed it - don't know whatever they do to you, don't you know.