Browse:Saltpeter (Volume 1, entries 2616–2620)
Saltpeter
Volume 1, entries 2616–2620. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → BUSINESS AND CUSTOMERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2616
Jis' lak if yo' bring in trade an' de jinx would git on yo'. Yo' take a dime an' git chew a box of saltpeter an' take yo' a bath in it - wash down good in it. All right, fo' two or three evenings. Den yo' see how yore luck, yo' know, changes - understan' [see No. 1492, p.480]. An' den take yore chamber lye yo' understand an' ever' night 'fore yo', yo' know, go tuh bed, yo' take yore mop - an' don't take nobody's chamber lye an jis' yore own chamber lye - an' take an' always mop it back in yore house. Don't evah mop it out. Mop it in - jis' lak if yo' stay upstairs, start tuh mopping down when ever'body got tuh sleep, plumb on up wit dat chamber lye. Dat'll bring it in. Don't evah mop it out though. Dat'll bring luck to yo'. [Here, first proprietor and then business is purified.]
Entry 2617
For hustlin' women - jis' like women hustlin' - well, you gits some chamber lye wit granulated sugar an' saltpeter an' put it [together]. In mornin' 'fore sunrise in de mornin' you git up, let chore right foot be de first one to hit de floor, an' go in de eas' cornah, de wes' cornah, an' nort' cornah an sout' cornah, an' sprinkle dat, you know, wit dat luck you done make up: An' go to de sun jis' 'fore it rise an' make yore wish. Well, ever'thing will go yore way dat day. You'll make nice money dat day.
Entry 2618
(What would you do to keep the law away?)
Well, then ah'd get me a can of - two of these five-cent metal cans [new cans must be used]. Ah put 'em both full of chamber lye and put one to de right and one to de left corner - ah'd put one in de front door, behind it, and put one in behind de back door. Then ah would get me some saltpeter and jes' go to de sun- rise [face east]. Ah'd take mah saltpeter and ah'd scatter it across de yard an' ah would say, "O, St. Peter - yo' hear me, St. Peter - yo' hears a sinner calling an' ah knows, St. Peter, you hears me. Well, ah wants to tell mah thoughts to yuh, cross mah yard both ways." Well, then ah won't be worried no more. Dat's 'fore de sunrise...ah'd set-up a five-cent metal can to mah front door full of chamber lye and ah'd set one to mah back do' full of chamber lye. Well, when de law comes dey won't touch mah house. Dey might touch next do'. Dey will talk to me and speak to me. Ah nevah be worried one bit.
Entry 2619
That's to draw in.
(In? You mean your rooming house?)
My rooming house.
(You mean to draw people?)
Yes, to draw.
(What do you use?)
Well, it's in the drug store here. There's a drug store here they call the Crackerjack. He has he and she saltpeter. See. You get those two together and you mix 'um and beat 'um together. Beat 'um up fine and you sprinkle 'um from - like you'd come this way and sprinkle it up - go up yore steps. Before you go up yore steps you sprinkle this way - back to yore door. And then you goes this way and come back to yore door and go all the way upstairs. Well, that's supposed to draw men and women to yore business. And that's the one thing I've ever used really to do my house any good. And hit's been successful with me and that's all I use. Lot of people say, "Well, I've had other junk, you know, but that's the one thing that's been successful with me."
(Just for renting rooms?)
For renting rooms - yes, sir. The he and the she saltpeter - one's long and one's round like a nutmeg [the usual he and she symbolism]. And you beat them together, mix them together, you know, and sprinkle them from the posts of your door up the stairway - if you live upstairs, or either around the house. Which I proves - proves very successful.
Entry 2620
You can take an' go to the drug store and you get this rock incent [incense], you get wintergreen and rose watah. And you mix it up all together in a bucket with rivah watah, [the amount] accordin' to how big the place is, and you wash it down with that and it'll draw customers. And then aftah that, go to the drug sto' and get you some he and she saltpeter, break it up in little pieces and sprinkle it all around the place.