Browse:SHIRTTAIL TEA (Volume 3, entries 4819)
SHIRTTAIL TEA
Volume 3, entries 4819. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SWEAT → CLOTHES EXCLUDING HAT, SOCKS AND STOCKINGS, AND SHOES. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 4819
[The following shirttail-tea rites are more frequently called shimmy- tail tea (see p.647 and elsewhere).] A woman kin taken - say fo' ninstance, if yuh wuz goin', keepin' comp'ny wit a woman, or if yuh wuzn't keepin' comp'ny wit 'er. If yuh wuz aroun' some place dat she had a chance tuh serve yuh yore meals or tuh fix yore meals, den she have a chance tuh do anythin' she wan'uh duh along dat line. Ah saw here in Fairfield, Md., in suburb of Baltimore in 1914, a woman dere by de name of Belle X. She's dead now. Huh husban' used tuh work at Oyster [Austin's?] Fertilizah. An' she had anothah man. Her husban' would sleep in de middle room an' 'er an' 'er man would sleep in de front up- stairs.
(You mean they were?)
Suah. Well, dis man when she firs' met 'im didn't care anythin' fo' 'er, but still he wuz bo'din' [boarding] dere. Well, she said tuh me, she said, "Ah'll git 'im. If yuh don't b'lieve ah'll [get him], jis' come on an' watch me." So ah did watch 'er. She goes tuh work an' gits some of 'er dirty pieces an' put 'em in hot watah an' boils 'em. She had taken dat hot watah an' mixed it wit 'is coffee. An' she served it tuh 'im an' he drank it, an' he become crazy about Ter, craziah dan 'er husban' evah wuz.
(If a man is in that condition, is there anything he can do to get rid of it?)
Oh, yeah. He kin git rid of it all right. Well, in ordah tuh git rid of it, de firs' thin' he would have tuh do. He go tuh work an' have connection wit 'er. Take an' git a bottle of sweet milk [and put it in] an' give it tuh 'er, or [put it in] anythin' sweet dat she likes [and] give it tuh 'er. Even'tly [eventually] all de feelin' he had fo' her in dat way will go right back where it came from.