Subject:Tablespoon
Entries
Entry 12378
Git chew - if it's two do's heah [in this house] yo' go tuh de grocery sto' an' git chew a can of whut chew call dis Red Devil Iye, which Southerners use down heah as potash, an' open it. Lye and pot- ash are the same in these rites, because that Red Devil Lye can has a real red devil on it!] Take yo' a tablespoon an' dig a hole jes' wit dat tablespoon, an' put de dirt outa dere track, an' yo' bury it down dere, one [can] tuh yore front an' one tuh yore back, when yo' go tuh work, an' it wouldn't hurt chew.
Entry 2697
Ah worked once in a woman's sportin' house in South Ca'lina in Sumter, South Ca'lina, de name of Annie H. In her house wus where ah worked, an' she said tuh me, she said, "Ah like yo' heah." She wus de houselady. Ah says, "Yes mam." She says, "An' aftah ah like yo', ah'm trustin' mahself. Luck been bad an' ah reckon dat ah'll let chew make me some." Ah didn't know whut tuh say, yes or no, cus ah didn't understand whut she meant. She first went in de house an' she brought out a - yo' know dis Red Devil Lye, she brought out a box of dat. Ah didn't ask her no questions. Yo' know asafetidy. A package of asafetidy is about de size of dat, an' it's a nickel. She took dat an' she chipped it up right fine. She took jes' about dat much watah an' she put it in a little bit of a pot an' she took about a tablespoonful of Red Devil Lye an' she took three bottles of Hearts Own Cologne an' she come tuh me an' she said, "Mamie?" "Yes mam." She said, "Yo' gotta go an' git us some dirt out de grave." Yo' know ah wus scared. Ah thought ah had done something. Ah didn't know whut in de worl' wus de mattah, whut ah done. An' she 'solve [dissolved] dis an' melt, an' aftah she melt it she made a lather out it. An' den when she made dat lather she po'ed it into a bucket - one of dese buckets whut chew might call a watah bucket. It's de size of a watah bucket but it nearly - dat wus de size of a watah bucket but - yet an' still aftah she made it up she po'ed dem in it - but dey had dat ring on de side an' a lock. Well, at dat time ah could use both mah han's. Now ah has three stiff fingahs - dey call it stiff-j'int rheumatism. An' ah said, "Miss Annie, whut mus' ah do?" She says, "Well, by God," she says, "scrub." Ah says, "Yes'm, ah don't min' scrubbin'." An' ah didn't bring no insult [retaliate] ~ no hard feelin's. Ah wanted tuh be nice endurin' dat house. She says, "All right, Mamie?" Says, "Yes mam." She said, "Did you know it's fo' a'clock now?" Ah said, "No'm, ah didn't. But it's all right. If it's all right wit chew, it's all right wit me." An' she said, "When de sun rises ah want dem beddin' rooms in de clear, so de company will be jes' de same as any day - if we havin' any company." Ah went roun' tuh every bedroom an' emptied every one of de chambers dat had de watah in it or anythin' - not de othah but jes' dat, an' ah scrubbed wit dat.
(What did you do with that water from the chambers?)
In that lye watah.
(Put it in that tub?)
Yes. An' ah scrubbed wit it an' brothah, ah wouldn't tell yo' one lie. Ah didn't git bit further den de front po ch, an' the hall clean up, an' ah started in anothah lady's room round de walls - jes' tuh wipe roun' dem. Ah couldn't do it. She says, "Mamie, yo'll have tuh set away dat till she git ovah." Ah says, "All right."
(Why couldn't you do it?)
Cause de room wus so fulla mens wantin' tuh go tuh bed wit dem wimmins till ah couldn't have chance tuh do dat. An' it jes' smelt so good an' wonderful, ah says tuh mahself, "If dis de way dey does, ah'm goin' tell ever'body." An' ah declare to goodness when time fo' me tuh go home, ah didn't think no mo' 'bout it. Now, ah 'sure yo', ah didn't know why ah wanted to. Dat wus mah aim to tell mah folks at home 'bout it an' some othah people ah know, but ah nevah thought a word about it. Ah told nobody. Ah don't think ah told nobody till ah'm tellin' yo' now. An' it had done left me. Ah nevah even thought about it no mo'. It jes' - she had up befo' sunrise. She had me clean all de rooms out befo' sunrise an' 'fore fo' a'clock struck. She said fo' me tuh be through an' be down to de kitchen tuh ketch all dese people goin' out. But ah didn't git no further den de second woman's bedroom. Some of de ladies in dere had friends with 'em by den. Dey called 'em de Catbone Wishers, an' ah waited on de three of dem ladies privately. An' so ah really know dat.
(These were white women, weren't they?)
Ever'one of 'em.
(And the madam was white?)
Ever'one of 'em. Ever'one of 'em in dat home an' all. Dere weren't nobody dere colored but me an' de cook. [I am unable to explain either bucket ring and lock or Catbone Wishers. Since I do not ask a question about the latter, I must have assumed the women each had or shared a black-cat lucky bone. Whether catbone wisher was then or now pro- fessional argot for anything else, I do not know.]
Entry 12874
Mix a tablespoonful of saltpeter with Jockey Club perfume an' rub over hands for luck in gambling. The saltpeter kills any cunjure and Jockey Club sweetens the luck.
Entry 1225
T. B's? There's a Way to kill that.
(How would you do that?)
You take a fat dog, you try to get a bird dog - like anyone got T. B., and you takes and you cut that fat off there and you fry it and get that grease, and you bottle up that grease and you keep it on ice or something like where it won't spoil, you know. And give her, this person that got the T. B., one tablespoorful of that grease for every meal she eats. And because this is - T. B's a germ that gets in your system and medicine can't get there, but this here grease it gets there from that dog and it kills that germ.
Entry 6977
Well, now, yo' kin take lard an' vinegah an' sugah an' kill any poison in de worl'. Yo' undahstan' me, if yo' use it right away. Yo' undahstan' me, yo' kin take lard an' sugar an' mix it tuhgethah, yo' undah- stan' me, in a quart bottle. Lard, vinegar an' sugah. An' mix it in a quart bottle. If it's right den, yo' undahstan', an' take a tablespoonfulla it three time a day. An' dat'll stop any poison in de worl'.
(That's what you do [use] when people come to you?)
Sure.