Browse:Doctor's Fee (Volume 1, entries 911–912)
Doctor's Fee
Volume 1, entries 911–912. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → Consultation Technique. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 911
Tell yo' 'bout us fellahs gittin' a han' fo' gamblin' once. We wus down in Sumter, So'th Ca'lina, an' we walked from Sunter down tuh Florence. Both of us wus broke an' we wus in town an' wus goin' to a fellah lived on No'th Darling Street, an' he goes roun' there an' he tole us, say, "Ah'm goin' give yo' a han'. Dis han' will cost yo' ten dollahs." Say, "Yo' haven't got de money, now?" Say, "No suh." Say, "Ah'm goin' give yo' a han'," say, "when yo' git de money ah'll know it." Says, "Aftah yo' gits it - aftah yo' done made," say, "yo' take but ten dollahs an' envelope an' seal de envelope up, seal it at de sunrise. Yo' walk out an throw dis envelope up towards de sunrise an' ah'll git it." So he made a han' an' we came on an' went to de [something] Lumber Company an' on payday, about two week aftah, we had about $175 or $180 [from gambling] an' he hadn't been havin' any luck atall. An' dat Monday, he said, "Well, ah lak tuh see yo' try it - if dis money come back [after thrown into air], ah'm goin' keep it." An' sho' 'nuff, he put dis money in de envelope an' seal de envelope up ah wus standin' dere lookin' at him - an' throwed it up, an' I an' him haven't seen de envelope since. An' that Thursday, we got a lettah from No'th Darlin' Street, thankin' us for de money.
(North Darling Street?)
Yes, No'th Darlin' Street, at Florence, South Carolina. (He went over there to Florence to inquire about this root doctor to get that hand from him?) Dat's right an' he got de han' an' it did jes' lak de man say.
(And the envelope disappeared up into the air?)
Disappeahed up in de air - ah wus right dere lookin' at dat, 'cause ah got afraid after he did it. Jes' as he tole him tuh do, an' it jes' out of de way. [At the end of informant's interview I made a note at the time and transferred later to the transcription: "That story he told about the envelope, throwing it up into the air and having it disappear - he said that the root doctor was old Doctor Harris (see Index) down in Florence, S. Car."] [Fayetteville, N. Car.,
(1429), 2378:11.] [See Payment and Air in Index.]
Entry 912
She vent down South [to South Carolina] and she say she owed this man two dollars. He told her fortune and she said, "Now, I ain't got nothing to pay with for curing me." So the man told her, "You're cunjured in your side," he said, "but you go on home," he said. She said, "I ain't got no money to pay, now." He says, "That's all right," he say, "you go on home and take dat medicine I tell you, and leave that money anywheres in the house and I'll get it." And she said she laid that money on her bedroom mantelpiece and went on doing her work. At twelve o'clock she thought of it and she went back there and the money was gone. And she telegraphed down there and he said he got it. Now, I wonder how he got it. She told me that herself. [Wilmington, N. Car., (238), 237:6.]
[See Payment and Air in Index.]