Browse:Madam Jane: near Birmingham, Ala. (Volume 1, entries 3096)
Madam Jane: near Birmingham, Ala.
Volume 1, entries 3096. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → MORE DOCTORS DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 3096
Wal, de story ah wanta tell - wheah ah live up in Mobile fer 17 years, an' ah [17 years old] left and went tuh Birmingham, an' ah lived in Birmingham 'bout six months in de no'th part of Birmingham, and after living in no'th Birmingham, went over in Westfield. It's about 7 miles from Birmingham and ah was working fer [some] company in Birmingham and ah lost a finger, see. Piece of a finger, see. An' ah drew about, I think it was 700 and some dollars fer dat finger - where ah was working from. An' ah went over tuh Birmingham and got aroun', having money you know - having a big time and met several girl friends. And where ah was living ah was goin' wit de girl stayed next door tuh me; an' ah was goin' wit de girl stayed at de third door from me. An' de girl that stay- ed at de third door from me, she was a.married woman, and de girl stayed at de first door from me, she was not married but she had a chile for dis married woman's husbands, yo' see, and so dey disliked one another. But how-de-ever, one day, she was goin' down to de commissary - dis store, yo' know, fer a camp, TCI camp. Dis TCI - ah guess you've heard about it. Down in dis camp dere a big store. All de trade is for de company - live by de company an' yo' deal wit de company. An' she ast me tuh go and ah tole her ah didn't wanta go. An' she tole me, "Yo' must go." Ah say, "Well, ah'm not goin'." Well she snatched mah hat and ah run, chased her to take mah hat from her and she out- run me and wore de hat on down dere. Well, when she came back - ah guess it was about six 'clock when she came back an' ah went over and ast her fer mah hat. So she gave it to me and so I wore that fer two or three days - worked with it, it was a work hat. So about several days after dat ah became - mah eyesight became sort of dim-like. What it was all about ah didn't know. Well, de TCI, you have to carry insurance dere. Dey takes out fer de rent and fer de doctor bill. Well, ah went over to de hospital - to de little hospital and me being in de hospital, de doctor test mah eyes and everything and tole me ah had sore eyes. He tole me to bath mah eye with some saltwater and it would come all right. Well, ah did and it didn't git any better and ah went back to him and so he sent me over to de Hillman Hospital - dat's in Birmingham - to a Specialist. Well, de specialist test mah eyes and ask me what happen. What hit me in de eye - did any steel or anything hit mah eye. Ah tole him no, it Wasn't any steel or anything ah got in mah eye. So ah tole him the only thing ah know of [I had been hoodooed]." 'Well, '' he say, "ah tell yo, son, you have to go to a two-headed doctor." [For telling a Doctor of Medicine that your ailment comes from hoodoo, see p.12, line 9f.]
(Was it a colored doctor who was waiting on you?)
It was a colored doctor.
(At this hospital?)
At de hospital. Oh! I beg yore pardon, it was a white doctor.
(And he advised you to go to a two-headed doctor?)
To a two-headed doctor. An' so ah goes on back to mah cousin and tole him he tole me to go to a two-headed doctor, and ast him did he mean that.
(Where did you say you went?)
From Birmingham - from de hospital? Well, ah went back home, yo' see.
(No. Didn't you go to see the two-headed doctor?)
He tole me go to a two-headed doctor an' ah went. Ah goes back home fer [first] an' ah tell mah cousin, who ah was livin' with, what de doctor tole me. So he advised me to go to a place dey call Tennysville, see. Yes, dat's a suburb of Birmingham, ah guess, 'bout seven miles. So ah goes ovah to the lady - it's a colored lady. Her name was Madam Jane. Ah goes tuh her and so she comes in to de room - de waitin' room and tole me everything. In de beginnin' she tole me, say, "Well, yo' lost yore eyesight - jist about." An' she tole me what it's all about and how come dis woman's mad with me and everything, but she wouldn't tell me who the girl was - she wouldn't call her name but she would describe her to me and give de girl initials [see 2748, p.757], yo' understand. An' so she tole me what charge - it cost me $25.00 to git mah eyes cured. Well, whut she said, ah don't know; but whut she tole me to do, ah know. So she advised me to bathe mah eyes in some fresh milk - whut ah mean by fresh milk, not dairy milk but from a cow, see. Dat whut she tole me to do - bathe mah eyes in fresh milk. An' she tole me dat mah eyes were blind from de girl takin' de bow off - de bow ah mean in de back of de hat, she had dressed de hat. An' say whut fer me tuh do was to take some salt - Epsom salts - take some Epsom salts and any kind of finest perfume and jest bathe dis - where dis bow was in mah hat. See. Co'se she gave me some treatments remember whut she gave me was to rub cross mah eyes but whut it was, ah don't know. An' so ah guess she worked on me 'bout two weeks and ah gained mah eyesight. In facts, in the third week ah was stone blind. But whut she did - ah know whut she tole me to do. Dat was to cure mah eyes. Dat's experience.
(What happened to the girl?)
Tuh de girl? Anything didn't happen to her. Quite natural me an' her was still friends but ah was sort of shy of her because she had did that trick, yo' see. In other Words, she was tryin' tuh gain love, yo' see. An' dis girl, she disliked her and she didn't want me to have dis girl. Of course, she's a married woman and ah couldn't be anything tuh her, but she liked me.