Browse:Fortuneteller (Volume 1, entries 810–814)
Fortuneteller
Volume 1, entries 810–814. 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 810
[No matter how a person becomes a doctor, a first-class doctor should be a fortune-teller - a seer and master of dreams and spirits - able to tell what has happened, is happening, and will happen:] Now, I used to use a wash you call Chinese wash [to keep the law away] an' if I had anybody at my house, any enemy of mine, they'd walk on out. (Where did you get this Chinese wash?) Well, this same - the one in New York. You could buy it an' they tell this woman [canvasser for a New York firm] - had a Special root at a New York drug store where she bought it at.
(Did you live in New York or did you send for it?)
I lived in New York eight year. I jis' came here from New York. I've been away eight years. I jis' got chere. Some money - a spiritualist told me dere's some money was be left here for me to fix my place [house]. I came here to get de money. An' she tole me while I bein' here that some dark fellah wus gon'a make love with me. So sure enough he did an' I got married Monday.
Entry 811
They'll fix you another way in that same way, jes' like you urinate. They get that and put that into that tree wheresomever you urinate at. They find that and they stop that up in that tree and that shakes your bowels. That gets you so that you be graj'ly, graj'ly [gradually] dying - that'll kill you. Well, you might live two or three year, but fin'lly you get so you can't have no action atall, unlessen you find another man that's smart enough to find that. Course we have mens in this country that'll find it. They will go right on to it. They will come to you and look right at you and tell you jes exactly who done it and go find it and get it and turn you loose, and you'll be a sound man again. But long as that there - well, you are on your way to the cemetery all the time. [There is frequent confusion between bladder and bowel functions.]
Entry 812
I'll tell what was done to my husband. He was workin' on de gov'ment and he went downtown Front and Princess [Streets]. He knowed de Red Cross folks was havin' some kin' of meetin' and dat draws a crowd. And he been in dat crowd and he even knowed two or three de people in dere, was talkin', and while dey was listen' at de singin' and de music, one dese ladies take de money out of his pocket. He didn't miss de money or nothin' till he get in de Five-and-Ten-Cent Store and feel back in his pocket - why, de money been gone. So den he run back to de crowd and so he ast all of 'em did dey see de money. So none never seed it so he went down to de police headquarters and tell they [not them] about it. And he say after dat, well he studied, see. He went - he heerd talk of a lady dere on Second Street; he went to dat lady. And dat lady told him one dem womens what he was talkin' wid, while he was talkin' to one, she say, de othern had take dis pocketbook out his pocket wid de money. And so he went to this woman and dis woman give him a root to chew. Dey called it Johnson, Johnson [John] de Conquer root. And so she told him, she say, chew dat and den put it in his pocket; and told him, said, dat money would of been home before he git dere. Now I ain't was home - dis heah real talk - I ain't was home. The man I used to work [for] out on de farm, dey call him Mr. George S., after we worked all de veek, he told us on Sat'day we could go pick up white potatoes ready been done dig - along [as long as] he can true us [could trust us] - us could pick up for ourselves. So he send de truck to get us and carry us out dere to pick up dese potatoes. When I get back to my house dey tell me de telegram boy had been dere twice. So I get uneasy. I wonder what he been dere for. So he been dere twice before I come. So he come back after I get dere, shortly after, before I coulda wash de dirt off my hands, and tells me, "Heah some money for your husband," and says, "You's de wife, you's de real wife?" I say, "Yes sir. I's his wife." "Well, heah's his money." So when I look at de money and de card, I was knowed it by his number you know, his card what he's been workin', what he generally been totin' [carrying]. And dere was all de money, and jis' like dat lady told him, dat money come right back home.
Entry 813
Yo' kin go to what chew call a fore-knower - go to a fore-knower and she give 'em somepin dey call de lucky perfume and de John de Conker root; puts one piece in de bottle and she give yo' de rest of it to chew. And when you go to de gang you chews a piece and rubs yore hand with this perfume, and you spit de juice - dat's to give you good luck and put bad luck on de rest of de gamblers.
(Where do you spit this juice?)
Jes' spit it anywhere around de game.
Entry 814
(You are a prophet and you see these things before they come to pass?)
Ah lay down tuh sleep an' see diff'rent things befo' dey come tuh pass.
(Well now, could you see things for me before these things happen to me?)
Yessuh. Ah see where yo' have great luck befo' yo' an' where yo' prospers yo' make a great fortune. Yo' reach de elemental elevation very sho'tly. It take a sho't while - ah mean, a few yeahs.