Browse:Hand Maker's Trademark (Volume 1, entries 1967–1968)
Hand Maker's Trademark
Volume 1, entries 1967–1968. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1967
Fo' tuh have luck in gamblin', take white peppah, an' yo' know dat John de Conker ah wus tellin' yo' 'bout it - well, take a piece jis' about this long an' white peppah an' some white sand, yo' know, an' a piece of white lodestone an' be shore it's put into a piece of flannen or, yo' know, not those thick leather - yo' know, jis' lak a kid glove is, leather lak that [shammy or chammy]. An' be sure tuh bind it an' sew it well an' leave jis' about dat much of de little piece open. Now, look [demonstrates] - see, if ah had a string so dat ah could show yo'. Yo' needn't leave not nary piece [of string] on dat, 'cause he ain't goin' understan' dat. But let him wear dat in his vest pocket, yo' see, an' nobody put dere han's on it. Now, ah tole yo' 'bout de John de Conker. If yo' ain't got no John de Conker, ah kin get chew John de Conker. Ah kin git real John an' Low John.
(What does he put this in his pocket for?)
Well, he put that in there fo' luck in gamblin'.
(You make a little bag for that root with that little hole [dropped stitches]
in it?) Yo' don't want no hole in it - no, no hole in it. Dat string-lak kinda handle to it.
(You make a loop in it?)
Yeah. Well, dat loop belongs dere. Dat little loop belongs dere.
(Why does that loop belong there?)
Well, dat loop means yo know somethin'. Well dat little loop on dere, don't chew see, recommends. Yo' see, ah'm a Christian an' ah lak tuh tell de truth. Dat little loop recommends dat ah will make it. Dat'll make it too. [Memphis - Tuesday, May 24, 1938 - 916 - woman 50 - root doctor - not much" - Numbers Book 885-977. This is an underevaluation made because she filled two cylinders only. She is telling me how to make a hand - "leave jis' about dat much of de little piece open." She does not mean the shammy or flannel but the string used in sewing the bag. She wanted to show me how but we had no string. Then she decides, "Yo' needn't leave not nary piece [[of string]] on dat, 'cause he ain't goin' understand dat." The man for whom I was making the hand wouldn't understand the loop anyway. That loop, she says, is 'lak kinda handle to it [[the hand]].] Dat loop means yo' know somethin'...recommends...recommends dat ah will make it. Dat'll make it, too." At the time I must have known or suspected what the loop meant. I can merely guess at the meaning now. The loop was her secret sign, personal trademark. I doubt the loop would have helped me in making hands. [For another hand maker's trademark, see Broken Bottle Hand, p.532.]
Entry 1968
Nine needles, no more than twelve. Get this wish dust, a small piece of lodestone and you take say a dime, or if you want a sixty or hundred dollar hand. I put fifty cents [half dollar coin] or one [silver] dollar in it. But just for an ordinary small hand I take a dime. I will wear it for a couple of days right in there - in the sugar bowl. [In a previous rite she had laughed boisterously because I did not know the meaning of sugar bowl. That is why I ask the following question - timidly:] Yes sir, just lav it in there, inside just for it to stay there for a little while. That's what I calls the sugar bowl. [She is the only person who used the word.] Wear it in there for a few hours, take it out of there and wear in under my arm. Get graveyard dust and get a shell off of somebody's grave and scrape some of that dust off raw, then you put it on the fire and you boil it an hour - put this shell on and boil the shell. When you first get it home, just scrape off the dry dust with [into] your needles and your money and stuff. Then you put this shell in a little boiling pot and you put it on the fire and you let it boil hard for a solid hour, and as this boils, why you make your wish to yourself. [This animal shell used on the grave as an ornament was a fresh-water bivalve mollusk of several related genera once abundant in the Mississippi River valley drainage system. Before the First World War almost every town on the Mississippi had a pearl-button factory with its huge pile of punched-out shells - shells full of regularly spaced round holes left after punching out the crude buttons. Along the river too, musselers floated their small flat-bottom boats having two racks of hooks parallel to the boat so that they could be easily baited and over the boat sides lowered into or raised out of the water. The largest shell I ever saw was 8-lO inches; the industry shells were much smaller.] When the hour [of boiling] is over, then you take it [the shell] off and you scrape off some of that [cooked] dust - you just scrape it off and you put some of that in a little bag, and you sew it [all these ingredients] up with silk thread and try and not put over fifty stitches in there. When you make your first stitch, leave the thread about that long [demonstrates].
(About as long as your finger.)
And the last one, leave it the same length, so that you can always hold it by that, because wherever there is money, that's called a Jack [see comment later]. And he gon'a kick you - it will jump. Now the whole thing is the Jack, but the loop - you see you kin catch it to hold it by that and [or] fasten it to you. Now, if you are a gambling person see, it's lucky for you - keep that on you. As long as you keep that on there, you'll have no need of playing - you jest as well let 'em hand it [the money] to you. While you are there won't nothing harm you. And now, maybe you'll say, "Oh, I wouldn't mind havin' a game in there. Don't know if they got any money or not." Well now, you jist walk around in there and you'll feel this move. [Despite informant's brilliant pun, "Wherever there is money, that's called a Jack" (slang for money), money in a hand does not make it a Jack (see margin- title Jack, pp.190-193 and Index). Only question to and answer of informant's hand turned it into a Jack.]
(How much does that cost as a rule?)
Well, just whatever you want to charge for it. Charge a person according to what you think they can pay.