Subject:Clover
Entries
Entry 1873
Dey take that fo' leaf clover and whut chew call wish bean - wish bean. (Like a bean you eat?) It's somepin similar to dat but it's made altogethah diff'rent chew know an' it grows altogethah diff'rent. It's kinda - it's pretty good size. It's kinda round but it's fat an' lopsided an' it has speckles on it.
(Does it grow in the ground or on a tree or what?)
Well, jis' how it do, ah don't know, but yo' know yo' go to those places yo' know an' yo' git it. [I do not know the identity of this commercial product.] Den yo' put that wish bean an' that fo' leaf clover with yore name written three time on dere. Yo' make a bag of it an' jis' lak dis is de back of yore bed heah, yo' fix yo' some way to hang dat so it hangs behin' de bed where dat yo' sleep. Dat supposed tuh bring special luck to yo'.
Entry 3281
To keep a man away from yore wife, yo' git yore wife's undahshirt - see, like yo' goin' to leave [town]. Yo' git de sweat of 'er shirt. Yo' take de shirt an' yo' wrap dis shirt up an' carry it wit yo'. See, yo' carry dis shirt wit yo'. Yo' take it an' make a package wit it. Undah- stan'? An' yo' take yo' some sugah an' cinna- mon an' oil of clovah [3 ingredients], yo' see, an' yo' mix it up in dat. An yo' put dat in dat package, an' when yo' sleepin' yo' sleep on dat. An' ah bet yo' she won't worry 'bout no man, while yo' are gone.
Entry 5934
Uh-huh, fer love. A person takes two stran's of yore hair, see; dey pulls it if dey kin by de roots, see. But if dey can't, at night when yuh are asleep, especially if yore wife or husband dat's sleepin' wit yuh, dey jerks dat out as quick as dey kin. Dey take two stran's, see.
(From where do they pull it now?)
Uh-hah - right heah, see.
(The left side of the temple.)
Uh-hah, takes it from de left side of de temple, an' dey jerks it out. An' dey gits dis clovah oil an' dey puts dat into a bottle. Dey gits Hearts Cologne an' dey puts dat - an' mix it up intuh a bottle. Dey carries it to runnin'watah an'( dey throws it in. An' dat's tuh make yuh love, see. But dey want it tuh go down de stream, instead of up. If it go up dat's fo' bad. See, if it goes down de stream dat's fo' good. Dey want chew to love 'em. Dey got chew all at dere command, see; an' dere's nuthin yuh kin do. [Normally the throwing of hair into running water is not a love rite, as we have seen; but our informant, marked excellent, turns it into a rite of love by adding Hearts Cologne and clover oil to the bottled hair, and by using A BELIEF OCCASIONALLY FOUND ALONG THE TIDEWATER REGION: ANYTHING GOING DOWNSTREAM OR OUT WITH THE TIDE IS A RELEASE OR GOOD WORK, AND ANYTHING GOING UPSTREAM OR COMING IN WITH THE TIDE IS A CONFUSION OR BAD WORK.]
Entry 6863
Red Seal Lye, bury it undah de step, takin' witch hazel, takin' para- dise seed, takin' oil of clovah, mix wit parsley an' boil well. All dose things tuhgethah, scrubbin' de place where yo' live at from de front do' tuh de reah. Aftah scrubbin', takin' de same watah, throw one glass tuh de east an' one tuh de west, sayin' In de Name of de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost. Well it [what was put down for you] don' taken no effec'. Dat'll kill off any bad spell, DEY CAIN'T HAHM YO'; NOT UNLESS YO' EAT SOMEPIN YO' SEE.
Entry 9025
That same woman I'm telling you about now, she was making whiskey and they had her up in Bowling Green [Va.] Court. She went there and she got a four- leaf clover and put it in her left pocket, and made a wish to get clear, and went to the court and they dis- missed it. The power that was in the four-leaf clover and her wishes and her power banished the court. [Fredericksburg, Va., cylinder 44, by Ediphone.]
Entry 9904
Well, you take a frog, you take you a nail, or take a knife and peg him down alive jes' like that with a peg right at your house. Take some sugar and just sprinkle it good, you see. The worms, the ants and things will eat all the flesh off it. And after they eat all the flesh off it, you will find a forked bone at the back tail of it. Then you take that oil of clover, van van and fast luck, see. Now you take that and sew them together and make you a little bag, and put it in your pocketbook. But that fast luck. you must keep a little bit out when you going out, on the side, and scrape in your hand like this [demonstrates]. That gives you gambling hand; power in gamb- ling.
(Is fast luck a liquid or a powder?)
That's lickrish [liquid]. When you put it on your hand it burns shoe [burns you]. Now, when you look at it, when you put it on your hand and rub it, you see that curl up, sort of yellowish. It gives you satisfaction.
Entry 10665
Git chew a apple, one dese big delicious apple. Hull it out. Aftah hullin' dis apple out, git some oil of clover, oil of verbena, Florida watah [trade name], puttin' it down on dat dere apple wit some honey an' his name on de parchment papah, an' put dat in a flower pot - one dose flover pot whut chew see on de po'ch. An' plantin' de flower in dat, an' set- tin' de flower in dat apple, an' as hit grows, yo'll [husband or man] fin'lly come back home.
Entry 10803
You get you some cinnamon and sugar. All right. You sweep. you go to sweep, don't sweep your dirt outside, you sweep your dirt in [into] the building. And you get this cinnamon and sugar and put it in the water, amd you scrub your floor. And then when you get through scrubbing that floor, you just take - get you some oil of clover. See, you buy some oil of clover at the drug store and you put water in there [scrub bucket] and you put a bottle of beer mixed in with it. (Bottle of beer?) Bottle of beer, yes. And you takes - start at the front door and you sprinkle it all the way back into the place, and your place will be packed.
(The place will be packed?)
Yes, sir, your place will be packed with people, all through the day.
Entry 11107
Yo' git whut de' call three clover leaf.
(One three-clover leaf or three different leaves?)
One leaf but three different leaves on it. It's all in one - three clover leaves. All right, chew name dose leaves de days yo' goin' tuh see yore boss an' use de same perfume on it - Hearts Perfume - use dat on it, an' tie that up in a red flannel with a needle, and put a little ashes an' salt, an' dat'll give yo' - use dat fo' luck. Ah have done it. (When you go before the boss to give you a job?) Yes sir, ah wus three days in gittin' a job, yo' see. Yo' see yo' name it de days yo' go. [If you go for a job on Monday, name the hand Monday. "Monday, I want you to get this job for me today, etc."]
Entry 12306
When you receive a letter, rub it with a four-leaf clover and wear the letter and it will affect the writer's hand. My original pencil transcript attached to original manu- script comments "doubtful," showing how critical I was at an earlier collecting day. A clover of 4 leaves, a good-luck symbol would counteract any bad luck! If you believed it did.