Browse:Geranium, Oil of (Volume 1, entries 2489–2492)
Geranium, Oil of
Volume 1, entries 2489–2492. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → BUSINESS AND CUSTOMERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2489
You take you some brown sugar and cinnamon and you get you some of this here oil of geranium and you mix that up together and you sprinkle that all over your floor. You take that sugar and go out from your place and come into your place sprinkling the sugar and your place be packed down with people. How I know that - I done try that at fish fries and I pack my place down. The other people don't have any with that [with a fish fry]. [A fish fry is a meal of fried fish served in a private home to the public. A sign with date, hours and cost of the meal is posted on the house or advertised by word of mouth.]
Entry 2490
[The preceding fish fry and the one to follow are separated by 2 years and 709 informants; the former story from my first trip to New Orleans; the following story from my second trip:] Use cinnamon, sugah an' oil of geranium - nine drops of oil of geranium - de sugah an' de cinnamon mixed together. An' yo' puts dat in de fo' corners - puts it - first yo' come to de do' an yo' come in wit that, yo' see. An' den when yo' git in yo' puts it in de fo' corners of de house an' dat draws yore people. Dat's de way ah used tuh do when ah give fish fries an' bring 'em in.... (This is sort of a liquid, then? Or is it a powder?) [She had failed to say what was done with the oil of geranium.] Dat's a liquish - de oil of a-geranium is a liquish, an' de steel dust, well dat's dry. An' de cinnamon, yo' kin git dat from de drug sto', too. It's de best from de druggist den yo' git it from de grocery, because de grocery keeps it an' it's weak. But de drug sto's is strong. [The oil of geranium would have been used in water for scrubbing; the steel dust, a drawing power, would have been sprinkled in the four corners.]
The informant names cinnamon with sugar and mentions oil of geranium in a fish-fry account; the later scrubbing explanation is Hyatt's bracketed interpretation.
Entry 2491
For that you go - you see, you go to people for to do that. They don't never get you - they won't - you'd have to pay them for to tell you. Like if I want a job, I go to one of them spiritual people and you go - you gotta scrub. You go to the drug store and you get you some oil of Geranium.
(Oil of what?)
[She had said something like gerange according to my penciled note on original transcription. Some of my informants had trouble with the word. I did tco - it being some time before I could be certain that my original guess was a fact. Thank heavens druggists did not call this substance oil of Pelargonium.] Oil of Geranium. You put that in your water and you put you some cinnamon an sugar an' you scrub, you see, an' then you get you some steel dust an' put it in the corners of your place - that's to draw, that's to draw people. Steel dust.
Entry 2492
I was in the bootlegging business - certainly I kin tell you more so 'bout that. Now, all you do is you get you some oil of geranium, oil of cinnamon and you mix it together, and you get you some sugar and a bucket of water and blueing, and when you startin' to sweep - like you sweep, you sweep in always from the street, you sweep in. After that you start to sprinkling that water, sprinkle that water coming in the door from the street. You start on the street and sprinkle right on straight in the back. You see. But you gotta put a little sugar in it to keep down the disturbance, you see. And you'll have the crowd. I used to be right round dere on Drive street. I kept the crowd in my place in bootlegging times.
(What did you put the sugar in for?)
The sugar is to keep down trouble - you see, you kin get a big crowd in your place but you kin have a lot of disturbance. You see that sugar is to keep down and ever'body be peaceful. You see that's what the sugar's for. See. And you scrub-like.
(You scrub when?)
Like on a Friday night - that's what I done did on a Friday night.
The informant names oil of cinnamon with oil of geranium in a sweeping-and-sprinkling account; sugar's stated purpose is keeping down disturbance.