Subject:Tea
Entries
Entry 3716
Ah tell yo' whut he kin do. Whut dey tell me is very good. Yo' take dat cow's horn, yo' know whut belong on a cow's haid, an' yo' scrape it up an' let it - don't scrape it down. Git de shavings up dat way an' make a tea out of it, an' he drink that. Dat's as good a medicine as yo' want.
(That's to bring his nature back.)
Bring it back.
Entry 3812
Go an' git a bran'-new brick dat has nevah been used, an' yo' put it in yore fire an' git it red-hot. While dat brick is heatin', he make him a pep- pah tea wid dese pod peppahs. Git nine pods an' make a peppah tea of it, an' he po' 'bout a ten-cent drink of likkah into dis an' drink it hot. Well, when he drink it hot, he urin- ate on dat brick - take it out an' urinate on dat brick, an' dat'll bring it back. Dat's one way. (That will restore his nature, his courage that has been tied up by some woman.) Yes.
Entry 4151
Said yuh go tuh work an' wheresomevah yuh jis' go an' urinate on de groun', dey git de earth, yuh know, from a fresh place. Jis' lak ah come out chere dis mawnin', dat [man urinating on the ground] is a man dat runs about an' wouldn't stay at home. Dey'd git dat earth down dere an' dey boil it an' make a little Klnda drop [like eyedrops] outa it, chew know, an' when ah come in mah wife sould jis' take it an' drop a drop or two of dat in my tea or coffee, whatsomevah ah use at mealtime, an' dat would make me stay at home an' wouldn't wandah about.
Entry 4338
Take de persimmon an' dogwood an' boil it an' make a tea outa it. Place chamber lye an' sulphur tuh it an' gives Dentine paste - Dentine tooth- paste. An' dey say yuh kin go anywhere yuh wanta an' yuh gain luck. (Where do you keep all this stuff?) Well, yuh jis' take it an' keep it jis' where- somevah yuh wan' tuh. Yuh have it fixed an' set lak yuh want it tuh set. See, always jis' take a little part of it. Yuh dress it lak yuh wan'a tuh yore own bouse [dress your house with it in any way you want to]. An' when yuh git ready tuh go [away from home], why yuh take yuh luck an' fix [dress] yuh han's wit yuh luck, an' den yuh go.
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.
Entry 5885
Take yore hair an' - cut a little piece yore hair out chure haid an' cut dese thin's off heah [demonstrates]. (Those fingernails.) An' offa dey toenail, don't chew know. An' take dose thin's an' parch 'em an' den mix it up togethah. An' aftah it parch, yo' mash it up, don't chew know, an' take a rag an' tie it up wit a white rag an' use it in de tea - anythin' dey drink. An' dat will make yo' have good luck. Dat's de way dey do it.
(Just good luck? What kind of luck?)
Hit will make 'im brin' yo' de money, or make 'er brin' de money to yo', yo' know.
Entry 6701
Fo teas fo' sickness, lak yo' got de yallah jandice or sompin lak dat. Well, yo' ketch yore antses an' boil 'em an' yo' make a tea an' give it tuh 'em. (For yellow jaundice?) Yes.
Entry 6702
Dey tell me if yo' kin git some red antses, take an' carry 'em an' boil 'em. Boil 'em down therly [thoroughly]. Well yo' kin take dat watah an' give it tuh a person an' let 'em drink it. Dat's good fo' any kinda tricks. [For tricks, see TRICKS, p.280f., and elsewhere.]
(That cures them?)
Cures 'em, yassuh.
Entry 6703
Take some syrup in a bottle an' put it tuh a red antses bed. When it all git full up wit dem red antses, yo' scald. Put some hot watah in dat bottle an' po' it out in a pot an' boil dat, dat red antses. Yo' gits a piece a [piece of] garlic an' yo' puts it in dere an' let it boil. Well, dat is a dope dat it's nobody kin hurt chew. Yo' drinks dat, dere's nobody kin hurt chew. Unahstan' [understand] now, boil de red antses aftah yo' git 'em in de bottle. Put de piece a garlic in dere, strain it off an' drink it. Nobody kin hurt chew.
(What do you do with the syrup?)
De syrup draws de antses intuh de bottle.
Entry 6808
(Suppose I have come to you about taking a spell off?)
Well, ah nuse [use] dis salt, peppah, sage an' stuff - salt, sugah, sage, alum an' saltpetah. Ah got dat ovah in a box, see. An' ah take some new string, nuthin have been worn, an' ah tie dem, an' whatsomevah ah Want chew tuh do [demon- strates]. (Just tie a knot.) Yeah, tie a knot, an' den ah take dat, dis stuff an' sprin- kle it ovah dere, see. An' den if dis spell [is] on me [you], see. An' whosomevah put it on yo', if yo' know dere names, yo' jis' call dere name an' tell 'em yo' want 'em to take dis spell offa yo'. Well, if dey don't, yo' wish bad luck onto dem, see. An' yo' burn dis stuff. An' den YO' STRIP BUCK NECKED [NAKED] AN' DEN TAKE DIS BLANKET AN' PUT IT: OVAH YORE HAID. AN' DIS SMOKE, YO' CAIN'T HAR'LY [HARDLY] STAND IT. If dere's anything in yo' in any way, shape, form or fashion, it'll come out, see. [The preceding term suck necked [[naked]] may be its only use in Hoodoo.] An' den yo' take a li'le whiskey glass an' yo' boil dis heah gourd tea - yo know gourds - an' yo' boil dis gourd tea an' yo' take three glasses of dis gourd tea evah day. An' dat'll take de spell off yo'.
(Especially if they have something inside of you.)
Entry 6871
Yo' kin take dat straw off de broom or de foddah, either one - de corn foddah off a corn stalk - an' make a tea outa it. An' dat'll make a woman's pains easiah. Yes, if she's in labor. Or den, if yo' take dis mistletoe, on de tree, if yo' got a cowan' she's in labor feed 'er on dat an' she'll bring de calf wit'out any trouble.
Entry 6987
Go tuh de no't side of a willah tree an' scrape de bahk [bark] off - yo' know, jis' scrape - jis' cut de top bahk off an' den scrape off some of dat white bahk offen [off] a willah tree. An' it wus good fo' neu- asmee.
[Neuasmee appears to be a combination of neuralgia and asthma.]
(How would they use that?)
Well, yo' take it an' make a tea outa it, an' drink de tea. Good for de neu- asmee.
Entry 7054
De wife'll take de sage tea an' put it in a quart of watah, an' boil it down to a half a quart. An' she'll take some of 'er urinate, de amount of dat about half a teacup, an' po' dat in dere. An' sweeten it wit sugah an' syrup, jis' a li'le syrup, an' den yo' go tuh eat, dey'll po' some of dat in yer coffee. But chew don' know it. An' den dat'll turn yo' ag'inst whis- key, 'cuz evah time yo' drink it, it'll make yo' sick an' yo' can' keep it on yer stomic.
Entry 7297
Yes sir, fresh cow 'nure, rub dere face, aftah dis persons - rub ovah each face good an' clean wit it. Rub it until it jes' - git it jes' juicy in yore fingahs, yo' know, den make yo' a tea an' drink it. Den yo' kin go an' git along. (Go along and do what?) About chure business an' won't no one bothah yo'. Ah mean if yo' did sompin, yo' know - ah mean if yo' broke gang or sompin like dat.
(If you run away from the chain gang?)
Yes sir. (Or something of that sort. You do this with cow manure.)
Entry 7944
I heard of 'em usin' clothin' from a dead person an' makin' a tea of it. Yo' take a dead person's clothes, somethin'. Prob'ly yo' might die or I might die an' dey'd git some of my undahclothes, make a tea of 'em. Well, yo' git - dere's a root in de woods dat's called Adam-an'-Eve. Yo' take dat Adam-an'-Eve an' boil dat intuh it. Yo' git choo a li'le of dis aloes an' put dat intuh it, but not enough tuh make it bottah so's [so as?] yo'd notice it or enythin'. An' give a person a dose of dat tea an' he'll lingah an' lingah, an' 'taint long 'fo' he'll pine away lak he got TB, goin' on away from heah. He'll be a long time goin' but he's goin' away from heah, jis' come down tuh a [skeleton?]. Think yo' got TB, de doctors Work on yo' fo' TB.
Entry 8817
Why a person could write a lettah to yo' an' if dey don't wanta hear from yo', why they burn de fo' cornahs off dat let- tah, an' den dey boil peppah tea, steep dat lettah in it, an' seal it up an' send it back tuh yo', an' yo' can't write 'em no mo'. An' den dey will go blind from dat.
Entry 9155
Ah seen a fellah do dis one time, an' it come out - it come out really true, right heah on de corner of [some street]. It wuz heah in dis town, mah home town. He tuk, he went tuh anothah fellah dat stayed up heah along de road, supposed tuh be a kind of a root doctah. He went tuh dis fellah. He had called him a...or sompin othah, a purtty bad man. He went up tuh dis fellah an' dis fellah wuz standin' round, say, "Yo' boys come in dis room." Told 'im, "All right." Ah'd gone up dere wit 'im. Ah went on in de room wit 'im. He gave dis boy an' he say, "Yo' do jes' lak ah tell yo' when yo' go in de co't." De boy tole 'im, "Yessuh." He give dis boy somepin - he mixed somepin, said it wuz a salve, sulphuh wit black peppah an' he got, ah think some sage tea. Den he went got him a whole lotta snails. Not no whole lotta snails but li'le articles of sands. An' he tuk [took] an' put dem in a snuffbox an' stirred it up. Aftah he put it in dis snuffbox he stirred it up an' he tole dis boy, says, "Will yo'all step out in dis othah room?" So we stepped out intuh de othah room. We didn't know what exactly [what to expect]. So we stepped out intuh de othah room, an' he tole dis boy, said, "Now yo' take dis stuff an' has de box right in yore han', jes' about lak yo' hold de palm of yore hand, an' put it in yore right-hand pocket; an' when yo' go up dere in de co'troom an' when dey call yo', yo' called up on de stand, an' when yo' go on dere, yo' take dis stuff. Don' let nobody see it. Jes' lak yo' got chure han' in yore pocket, an' jes' take some of dis stuff an don't be watchin' whut chew doin'. An' take it as yo' goin' up dere on de stand an' jes' sprinkle it round lak yo' brushin' dis hand right down de side of de judge." An' he said, "Ah'll guarantee yo' dey won't do anything 'bout chw - guarantee yo'll git out, won't go no time." (Well, what about this other stuff, this salt and sand that was sprinkled around. He put this salt and stuff with this sand and sprinkled it around?) Yessuh, mixed it all up tuhgethah.
Entry 9900
Yo' git a frog, a toadfrog, an' yo' put 'im in a can. Yo' put some holes in de can an' yo' put 'im ovah a red ants nest, an' let de ants eat de frog. An' when de ants through wit it, yo' go dere an' gits de skeleton of de frog, an' yo'll find a bone in dere, in dis skeleton dat looks lak a fish- bone - a wishbone. [There is no bone in a frog or toad looking like the wishbone in a chicken.] An' yo' takes dis bone an' go out talk- in' wit de girl dat chure tryin' tuh git. If yo' kin hang it in 'er clothes jes' fo' two seconds, why she'll be crazy about chew. An' de only way tuh git unsundah [asunder] from 'er is take dat same bone from anothah frog, an' make a tea an' put some of de watah in sompin lak a bottle of soda watah [a sweet carbonated water of various flavors] or sompin lak dat - nine drop of dis. Den she'll git chew off 'er mind. Othah den dat, she'll stay wit chew.
(That is all she can do to get rid of that.)
Dat's all yo' kin do tuh git rid of dat girl.
(Oh! if you want to get rid of her.)
Yes, if yo' wanta keep 'er, why don't make de tea. (If you want to get rid of her, you get another frog and take it out to the ants bed.) Dat's it.
Entry 10232
De only thing dat ah heard, whether dey tried it on dem or not, dey say if a woman wants to keep a man home, she kin take her drawers, yo' know, an' boil it. Make a tea out of it an' give it to him. An' he kin go out dere. Any place dey give dem tea, like if yo' be done eatin' in a place an' dey fix chew tea an' dey kin po' it in yore tea. An' yo' kin drink dat a couple of mawnin's - three or fo' mawn- in's - an' yo' kin go out but chew ain't goin' be no good out. Yo' jes' be out dere, it ain't a thing yo' kin do out dere.
Entry 11026
You kin get a black hen's feather, git chew a little black molasses, and take you a little of dis ole card weed, they use to call it - grow in de fields. (Card weed?) Dat's right. It bears a long seed-like along in de fall of de year, and it's a lot of yellow dust on dat. You git chew one of dem, git de longest one yo' kin find. If yo' go to a bush, git de longest one yo' kin find. You take dis chicken feather and dis black molasses and you boil it like a tea- like. And you kin slip some of dat to a fellow and it ain't very long 'fore dat Weed will sprout into his veins. [At one time I thought this weed might be the card teasel or cardthistle. I'll leave this for the expert in folk names for plants.]
(You boil this weed and the molasses and the feather all together?)
Yes.
(And how do you give to him?)
Well you gotta slip it in somepin dat he eats.
(Oh I see, and this weed will sprout in him. What will that do?)
It don't sprout into his system, it forms into his veins; just cripples hi up, bad laigs.
Entry 11048
Take dat an' dry it out.
(This manure from a black frizzly chicken?)
Yassuh, yo' kin dry it out an' go tuh anybody's house an' if dey cookin' or anything, an' sprinkle dat intuh dey food, dat will upset dere stomach an' con- tinually keeps 'em heavin' all de time. Yo' kin turn right round an' take de gizzard of a [any] chicken an' put down dat throwin' up. Anytime a person put frizzly stuff [ma- nure] into yore food, yo' nevah got no appetite fo' anything yo' eat, yo' throw it up.
Entry 11138
They put cow manure in your tea and it will make you love 'em. Like you have your wife and she can't [stay home and is running around] you kin use cow manure and it will make her stay with you, love you more. [The theory here is that someone has bewitched her, manure is a cure.]
(I see.)
Entry 11210
Dirt dauber nest [informant, a former midwife, called it "three finger dirt dauber because she used thumb and two adjoining fingers to pick up rather than thumb and index finger, the pinch measurement] make tea, "give it to a woman in labor, it will help her to come 'cross [across - to de- liver]. [Would those 3 fin- gers be a survival of the 3 HOLY NAMES?] [Mobile, Ala., 900:6.]
Entry 11218
(What do you mean by nine times and nine days?)
That's what I say; nine days, you know.
(Well, tell me the whole story so I'll understand it.)
I say, that they says you can take a dirt dauber's nest and make you a tea, and as you give your husband his coffee, you might put a little in his coffee for nine days, and then that might would check him up from running around, you see. Running around, that's all I hears about dirt dauber's nest. (Running around with what?) Just going out aplenty. Going out so much, just don't know what he does; but however, he just be going all the time.
Entry 12251
Ah ain't goin' [tell] yo' no lie. Ah'll tell yo' de truth now, but ah'm goin' tell yo' 'bout dis. Now, ah'm goin' [tell] whut ah knows an' whut ah don't know ah won't tell yo', 'c'use ah don' ca' fo' no foolishness. Well, all right. Now, ah have had people roomin' wit me. Ah have rn a roomin' house. Co'se ah haven't run one lately. Fifteen yeahs ago heah in dis coum an' people heah dat wouldn't pay me, an' ah wanted dem tuh stay, an' dey uouldn't stay 'way from mah house. Ah wanted 'em tuh stay 'way. Ah sprinkle Salt dere. Ah had tuh sprinkle salt down. An' now John de Conkah is a straight Sring, is a straight fact, it won't die. John de Conkah root will not. Yo' boils hit an' strains it through a thin white rag, an' git all dem herbs an' trash in through de rag, an' take dat tea an' sprinkle it an' sweep yore flo' wit it. Sprinkle salt behin' dere an' sweep it out, jes' anybody dat go out. Jes' have it in a bottle an' anybody dat go out, jes' sprinkle salt on de floor an' sprinkle dat root of medicine on de flo' an' sweep it out behin' 'em. Ah'll guarantee dey ain' t comin' back dere no mo'.
Entry 12307
You catch about six big roaches and pound them up good and put them in a can and make tea out of them. And after you make that tea, you strain those roaches out and put it in your hair where the louses are, and that kills the louse off. [Lice, of course, can be put into your hair by hoodoo. This remedy kills hoodoo.]
Entry 13374
Yo' kin use dey chamber lye an' boil it in his coffee or use it in his tea, or eithah if he bringin' his whiskey home, yo' kin [use] it, but chew gotta boil yore chamber lye an' let it set befo' yo' give it tuh him. See, let it set prob'ly a week or sompin lak dat. An' den boil it an' strain it by itself. See, aftah yo' boil yore own chamber lye, it forms a drugs [dregs] lak in it, an' yo' po' it off an' strain it an' po' it den. Use it in his coffee, eithah in his tea, anything dat he drinks or eithah po' it in his whiskey. Yo' don' have tuh po' dat much. Ah say roun' 'bout fo' or five drops jes' in dere tuh stop him from drinkin'.
Entry 1143
Yo' take broom sage [broom sedge = broom grass]; de ole-time broom sage whut people used tuh sweep flo's wit. Dat whut yo' speakin' of [not of the modern broom].
(Yes.)
All right. Yo' go to de - if yo' got any ole smokehouse or wherevah yo' keep it an' yo' take this broom sage an' make yo' a tea off it an' drink it. Dat will break up de croup. (Break up the croup. You mean this old-fashioned home-made broom? What they made out of broom sedge?) Yes, but chew go an' break it lak dat. [Fayetteville, N. C., (1397), 2516:4.]
[Broom rites are many - see Sweeping, No. 1061, p.402, and Index.]
Entry 1185
Heard of 'em usin' chicken dirt - it's good take hives offa babies, or eithah nuse [use] for jis' any kinda, yo' know, bumps that chew break out with. Yo' kin take that an' give hot tea an' it will break 'em out on 'em.
Entry 1186
(How do you handle chickenpox?)
Well, yo' boil this tea - yo' kin make it outa hen manure. Git dat white - dat little white speck on dere an' yo' make tea outa it an' den yo' give it tuh de individual. Dat breaks it out an' also dey begin tuh dry up.
Entry 1210
(They do what with the dirt dauber's nest?)
Make a tea out of it an' strain the tea an' give it to 'em to drink. Dey give it to 'em tuh drink. Dey give de girls in de home - young girls in de home an it will make dere periods start on 'em if dey have nevah start an' dey won't have any pains. Dat's de onlies' [only-est] thing dat ah heard dat wus good fo'.
Entry 1228
A man tole me if a person is crazy or anything, yo' know, an' it's not a natch'al disease, git a dog manure. He did tell me, aftah it so many days old it turns white or yellah-lookin' - something lak dat, an' make a tea out of it an' let them drink it. An' he said that will cure them.
(Any kind of insanity? A person who is crazy?)
Yeah. He tole me tuh use that on mah mothah an' ah haven't did it yet because ah haven't been where she is.
Entry 1235
Take de dog fennel root an' yo' kin drink de tea out of that an' yo' kin git anything out of you that a person trying tuh hurt chew - that chew got down. Or if they tryin' tuh, yo' see, do anything to yo'.
Entry 1236
Yo' evah heah of dog fennel? Well, de root of dat is good. Yo' evah heah talk of the dogwood? Well, de root of dat is good. Ah used tuh go tuh work an' git a tea - take de root an' make a tea of it, an' dat insec' or whatsomevah it 'tis dey got down in yuh, well dat'll bring it out.
(You use either the dog fennel or the dogwood tree root? Each one is good?)
Each one is good.
Entry 1238
Git some de bark off it an' git about ten rusty nails.
(You go to a dogwood tree?)
Yessuh, an' boil dat together an' den git chew some heart leaves an' put in it, an' if anybody gits hurt - dat's whut ah heard. [If these are not heart-shaped (cordate) leaves, they are leaves of the heart- leaf - several American species of Asarum.]
(What do you do with that? How do you give it to them?)
Yo' give it to 'em - yo' makes a tea out of it.
(You make the tea out of this dogwood and these nails and the heart leaves?)
Yes.
Entry 1248
(How are you going to cure this snake bite?)
Why yo' take that bark an' boil it - de bark from de fig tree, an' yo' boil dat an' yo' give that tea to the person who's bit by the snake. That'll drive de poison out.
Entry 1331
Take black hog hoof an' make a tea of them an' give a body dat's got pneumonia an' dat will kill pneumonia.
Entry 1403
Go to a oak tree an' git jes' lak dis red oak bark, if a woman be's sick or anything with stomach trouble, an' take an' make a tea of it an' take a douche wit it. Why, it will cure stomach trouble.
Entry 1432
I hear'd ole man settin' down tellin' dis - said dat she [an old woman] got anothah ole woman [root doctor] to doctor on 'er. She said dat she had a - she had sweated 'er. She said she had a somepin up 'er liver in 'er skin. It crawled all over. She fis' feel it crawlin' undah de skin. [For a live terrapin hanging on to a person's liver, see No. 10, p.7.] An' dis woman tol' der dat she wus hurt - she said she wus tricked. She goes an' git some ratban [ratsbane] roots, an' git a he ratban root - git some of dem - an' a she ratban root. A he is got streaks up it, white streaks on de leaf; an' de she is jis' a solid small green leaf. She boils a tea out of it separate, an' take de she ratban-root tea, give all of dat; an' jis' a half of de he. An' dat cured it. [It is quite likely that had the patient been a man, the doctor would have prescribed all the he tea and half the she tea. All of one and half of the other is a diminishing amount rite.] [The plant here is not the ratsbane of European witchcraft but an American substitute. Its identity? What a botanist and a root doctor who digs her own roots call ratsbane can be different things. Besides, she is surely using two separate plants; the one with "white streaks on de leaf," the other "jis' a solid small green leaf." The former, the "he ratban root," appears to be either the rattlesnake plantain (Peramium pubescene), an orchid with checked or mottled leaves supposed to resemble rattlesnake hide, or spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) with white-mottled leaves. The latter, the "she ratban root' - as a sheer guess I would say it was a. plant growing in the vicinity of the "he."]
[Baltimore, Md., (153), 62: l+85; this cure in Charlotte Co., Va.]
Entry 1442
(What kind of a tree?)
A red oak. Well, yo' go in de woods an' take yo' an axe or hatchet an' git on de south side of de tree about a foot from de ground, an' git de bark until yo' git to de meat - don't git no meat. An' yo' cut de bark off, den, an' yo' take de bark an' carry it back home an' yo' boil it an' yo' make a tea out of it. An' yo' drink de tea.
(What will that do?)
Dat's supposed tuh cure rheumatism.
Entry 1521
Dey says if anybody put anything down fo' yo' to walk on, why yo' take a piece of silver an' scrape it off lak that an' make a tea out of it an' drink it, an then aftah yo' make the tea, then take an' put a hole in it. Co'se it jingle fo' a time on accounta they's small. An' tie it round yore laig an' then they can't do anything to yo' - or roun' yore knee. They can't do anything to yo'.
Entry 1679
It will cure de asthmee. If it been struck by lightnin', yo' take it an' yo' boil it an' make a tea of it an' drink it an' it will shure cure de asthmee.
(Any kind of a tree that has been struck by lightning?)
Yessuh.
Entry 1680
Dey git de lightnin'-struck tree - a pine or what not, an' it cure de thrush. Jes' take an' boil it an' make tea out of it an' give it to whosomevah have de thrush - dat will cure it.
Entry 1682
Well, dey say fo' n'instance now, if a oak tree wus right out dere an' de lightnin' strike it an' which an' it kill de part it strikes, well dat makes dat wood turn brown. Well, yo' jes' go dere an' take yore axe an' cut yo' a piece of dat oak bark an' bring it home an' chip it up fine jes' like yo' would Irish potatoes an' put it into a pot an' boil it - make a tea off it an' drink it, an' yo' hol' it on dat tooth. It'll shore stop de toothache - ah know dat.
Entry 3229
If he [a husband] goes to his wife - to keep 'im [any other man] from havin' intahco'se wit 'er, [they] say yo' kin go to a - dere's a kinda bush out in de woods called de mullein. (The mullein vine.) Take a mullein an' put chure han' tuh de top of it an' strip it right down lak dat [demonstrates], an' take dat stuff yo' strip down lak dat, an' put it right in a pot an' boil it an' draw some tea outa it, an' put chure fingah in de tea an' stick it down in dere.
(You put your finger in this tea and then do what?)
Have de tea where yo' kin do it on 'er. Put chure fingah in it an' put it down in 'er yo' see. An' de man cain't git up de heart tuh go wit 'er.
(Who would do this?)
Her husband.
(You mean her husband would do it and [but] that man wouldn't. He [other man]
Wouldn't be able to do anything with her then?) No, de outside man couldn't do it. (Oh! the outside man couldn't. Yet the husband dresses her with this mullein tea. Then no outside man can come.) (And in getting this mullein, you've got to strip it right from the top, you have to strip it right down.) Jes' as de sun rise in de mornin'. (Just at sunrise In the morning, you have to strip it all down. Any number of times or just once?) No, jes' once, jes' take yo' hand an' come right down wit it.
(Just once, all at once.)
Entry 3414
Yo' kin ketch a houn' see when she's in heat - a bitch at least, when she is in heat, an' raise up 'er right hind laig an' cut it. (Cut it?) Yeah, an' git some blood from it, see an' put it in a cup. Put it in some of 'er coffee or tea, anything she drinks. Let 'er drink it an' if a man go to her, she'll get stuck an' can't nobody get 'em loose until yo' come back an' give her anothah drink of dat stuff. [For like cures like. see p.349.1 DE DOCTOR [M.D.[ KIN GIT 'EM LOOSE BY KILLING ONE OF 'EM, BUT CHEW KIN GIT 'EM LOOSE AN' SAVE BOTH OF 'EM.
(WELL! HOW CAN YOU DO THAT?)
JES' GIVE 'EM A DRINK OF DAT - FROM DAT CUP WHAT YO' KET' DE BITCH'S BLOOD WHEN SHE'S IN HEAT. Yo' know a bitch runnin' roun', an' yo' raise her right hind laig an' slit it. Jis' cut a gash enough to git some blood an' put dat blood in dere. Put a drop of blood in 'er cup of coffee or tea or somepin an' she drink it see, an' if a man go to her, why he gona stick.
(He'll get stuck.)
An' den when yo' come back [from finding a bitch] - evahbody roun' dere yo' know, doin' somepin fer 'em, see - no soonah yo' come back an' yo' walk in, an' picks up a dose of somepin [coffee or tea] an' put [in it] a drop of dat blood an' give it to her, an' she'll git back all right.
Entry 3757
De root of de fig tree is good, yo' know, when a man - when he lose his feelin's. Dey takes it an' boil it an' make a tea out of it, an' den put a little, if yo' kin git holt of it - but yo' hardly kin git it now - but put hit an' dis fig root togethah, if yo' kin git holt of it. Dey call it - a little Spanish fly. Yo' have to put dat an' make a tea out of it, an' dat will bring 'im up.
Entry 4088
An' jes' lak yore man will take a bath, yo' take dat watah whut he take a bath in an' take a little of yore pee, an' take it an' put it in 'is coffee; if he drinks coffee or tea, eithah one. He'll be crazy 'bout chew.
Entry 4494
De nex' way, she kin take an' wash 'er feet, yuh undahstan', an' make a tea out of it. Put it in yore tea or coffee. Wash 'er feet an' put it in yore tea or coffee an' give it tuh yuh tuh drink. An' when yuh drink it, it be about nine days or so yuh'll be crazy 'bout 'er.
Entry 6399
Toenails, yo' know. An' [they] ketch yore toenails an', if dey kin git 'em, dey make a tea of 'em. It gives yo' - an' yo' drink dat an' git it inside of yo', it MAKES YORE ENTRAILS SCALEY INSIDE. It be's perfectly scaley JIS' LIKE A FISH, but it be's all de way roun' yore guts. But it's one thing, yo' see by gittin' dem, dey goes down. De scales don' come up dis way fo' yo' food tuh hang. De scales will hang down so yore foods kin go by. Dey will give yo' a bad odor through yore [mouth?]. Yo' undahstan' me?
Entry 6408
Dey tell me yo' could take de fingahnails an' toenails an' boil 'em, an' put it in bread or tea or sompin othah, an' keep 'im. Keep 'im home. He'll leave but he come back.
Entry 6413
Well, dey say - jis' lak yo' soak yore feet, scrape a li'le of de bot- tom of yore feet an' put dat in de coffee or tea, an' dat will make 'em stay home.
Entry 6428
Well, now, ah've seen dem use de fingahnail tuh make people love 'em an' all, yo' know, an' pull 'em dere way an' all. But dey take dere fingahnail an' dey'll git de dirt from undah dat fingahnail. An' dey'll scrape de fingah- nail an' den when dey do dat, dey'll take dat dirt an' stuff from undah dat fin- gahnail an' put it in dey coffee or dey tea.
Entry 6430
Put de dirt from undah yore fingahnails or eithah undah yore toenails intuh coffee or tea. Ah've heard of dat.
(What would that do?)
That is to make love. (Make someone love you? Just the dirt from under your fingernails and under your toenails?) Yes, dat's right.
Entry 6436
Take de fingahnails or de toenails. Jis' lak yo'd trim yore fingah- nails or toenails, an' dey put 'em in a pot of tea where yo' draw tea, an' give 'im tea offa dat. DAT MAKES 'IM QUIET AT HOME. A MAN OR A WOMAN, IF DEY'RE FUSSY AN' QUARRELIN AT HOME, YO' KNOW, YO' TAKE DAT AN' PUT IT IN A TEA AN' GIVE IT TUH 'EM, WHY DEY COOLS DOWN. DEY JIS' AS CALM WHEN DEY COME IN AN' Why, de same thing - jis' take de bottom of yore feet, or yore fingahnails or toenails an' put it in de tea.
Entry 6769
(The dirt dauber's nest. What do you do with that?)
Well, that will make her have a baby quick. If she's lingerin', yo' kin take some dirt dauber's nest an' make some tea, an' she'll soon come.
Entry 6772
Use dirt daubah's nest fo' delivahin' babies. Dey makes a tea of dat. Weah it in yore clothes an' bring yo' good luck. Put dirt daubah whah yore sweetheart is an' he'll give yo' money an' be good tuh yo'.
Entry 6791
Yo' kin take de fig tree roots an' destroy babies. Dat's de only thing ah know 'bout a fig tree. Well, yo' take de root, yo' know, an' yo' boil it an' make a tea of it. Dat'll make yo' miscarry a baby, dey tell me. (You just drink that tea?) Yes, yo' jis' drink dat.
Entry 6917
Silkweed tea takes live things out of yo'. [Informant a root doctor born in North Carolina.]
Entry 13037
To kill live things in baby, drink tea from the dust of silver half- dollar scraped upwards. [Vicksburg 1032:9.]
Entry 13303
3 RooTS: blackberry, make tea, drink 3 days; go to dogwood tree, din bark from north side, pulling it upward, make tea, drink 3 days; bamboo Eier [like a fishing pole], make tea, drink 3 days. Then take a dose of castor oil and live things in you will come out.
Entry 11426
Put man's own fingernails and toenails in tea to keep him home.
[Charleston, S. Car., 549:3.]
Entry 15
Now, I think I'll almost explode de whole situation - it's mighty rough on a man's belief. I've been what you might call a globetrotter for about 20 or 30 years. I've spent my life rambling over de world. I'm a descendant from de 'foretime Indians. Well, naturally, we believe in the great virtue of roots, herbs and bark - that is, for medical purposes. But I find after I settled here in dis part of de world dat de people got a great belief in 'em doing wonderful things. These boys that - the big fellow that you met yesterday, he always runs up to see me every time he gets a little strained there. He's one of these hoodoo doctors - so he claims - but my belief about it is just actually where dey work is de will power that you got over de person that you delivering 'em to. Yo' kin take the root - well, all of 'em has some legend behind of 'em. They believe in dat and no sooner you get dat belief, why, they will do wonders for you. If you haven't got dat confidence in em, why, dey's no more than the ordinary root. But I finds through the southern part of this country, everybody is got some belief about 'em that-a-way. And I pretty well knows the growth of 'em - where dey kin be found and all. Dat's why I got acquainted with dese fellows. Dat's why I coming up dere to find out different kind of - the way dey believes, dat's, actually just what it'll do; anything they believe in, you get their belief in it. [This man, a part-time seller of roots, wanted to become acquainted with the beliefs of his customers and their patients.] Course when dey practicing dat witchcraft and all dat junk on de people, you gotta prepare your victim for you, see - you must have a go-between that prepares him for de shock dat's coming off. Well, den natural after it's passed on, you come and relieve de situation and there's no law in the world then that make him believe that you can't do those wonderful things. Well, that's just the way that I've always taken it, and since I've been here I've found that everybody, nearly, has a belief in some kind of a root or know the virtues of it.
(What State were you born in by the way?)
Well, I was born in Oklahoma. Course I left there when I was quite small. I never knew anything about my people till I was round about 27 years old. And after I found out, I made a couple of trips back dere. I brought my mother over here - she's only been dead about five years - 102 year old she was... Through here you meet an awful lot of 'em that's, you know, in that practice, selling roots and digging 'em and using 'em for different purposes - most all of 'ems in the hoodoo business. Lot of 'em comes up around dere to see me a lot of times." I do painting and decorating and I'm a mechanic too, but I just know de names of 'em and most of the natures concerning 'em - what they are in shape or de form dey is and what they kin be used for. Lot of 'em run around there time after time to see me about different ones. (Well, where did you learn these stories about them - from your own people, the stories about these roots?) [If from your own people sounds tricky, it is not intentionally so - see Introduction.] About dese roots - some of 'em and some I didn't. Now, we have a root chere, hit's well known all over de world. It's a grass, it grows with a small leaf, it's called the blood plant [the bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis] and inside the leaf it looks like it circled with blood. Well, now, you take over in de old countries, everybody over dere believes that a hemorrhage or any kind of a bleeding or issue from de flesh can be stopped in a few minutes with a tea made from that plant. Well, they claim the reason why is it's circled - well, that bloodstain, it came from when Christ was killed, when He was hung on de Cross. A man was driving nails in His feet, he got his hands bloody and when he finished he just bent down and wiped them right there at the foot of the Cross, and by Him hanging there bleeding, that from then on that grass sprung and after that it always showed a bloody stain. And they claim up until this day, it will cure any kind of bleeding or any kind of issue that-a-way. It's used purposely for that and nothing else that I know of, but a lot of these hoodoo fellows use it for other purposes - but it is, that's the legend of it. You put it in some water and steep it - the water looks like blood when you take it. (Have you heard that if a person thinks he is going to be hurt, that he can do something to protect himself?) The onliest way for him to protect hisself is the will power he's gotta have. He kin go right to de same person that really is going to fix him through [for] somebody else, and go to dem and just get him a bag of roots. Now, if he's got the confidence, if he's got 'em, nothing will hurt him. As long as he keeps that bag on him and feels that confidence in it, there's nothing they going to do. The moment he lose this bag, why den he's all to pieces - almost crazy, you see, because he knows that's what is going to happen to him...
(What tribe did you say you came from?)
From de Crowitans. (The Crowitans. Well, do the full-blooded colored people believe the same thing that you are telling me about this?) [My mind must have been tired! Fortunately, I do not think he understood the implication of my unfortunate and meaningless full-blooded. This man, like Doctor Johnson just interviewed in Richmond, was both Indian and Negro.] Yessiree - they believe that right out - positively you can't get it out of their heads - they really believe that - no way in de world to change their ideas about it. It's half of dere religion, believing in dis hoodoo stuff.
(Well, they don't believe in it as much as they used to, though?)
No, naturally, they are getting out of it some, but mighty little different you kin see today from what it was 35,40 or 50 years ago. It's actually in 'em, it's impossible to remove it from them. Why, I've talked with some of these graduates and colleges and stuff right here in this city and they are just as deep in it as their grandmother and father was - believes part of it if they don't believe it all. They've got some belief about that supernatural part, the roots and the herbs and stuff of dat kind. [Norfolk, Va., (470), 477:2...480:1.] [The belief in spirits is the foundation of hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork and similar superstitions. Everywhere throughout this investigation spirits are mentioned or assumed.]
Entry 685
Ah was belonging to de Household of Ruth and ah was goin' dere to make some candidates we did. Ah was their wardess - that was, turning folks in, git de pass an turn 'em in. Well, de lady dat was in dere she was keeping books - secretary. Well, by me knowing how to write better than her, dey moved me from that do' an' put me secretary. An' she got mad wit me about it. Den whilst ah was in de entry room, dey sent me dere to help fix dose candidates. Well, after ah did dat ah seen her wit mah shoes, though ah didn't think anything of it.
(Where were your shoes then?)
They were at the chair where ah got up from to go to the entryroom.
(You had your shoes off?)
Ah'd taken dem off because mah feet was worn out from working all day and Walking there dat night. An' when ah put mah shoes on -
(Why didn't you say something to her when you saw her with your shoes?)
Ah didn't say anything 'cause ah didn't think anything - she was talking 'bout de shoe - her and dis ole man - ole-timey man - ole cunjurating [man] - was talking about de shoe being a cute-made shoe. So when ev'rything was ovah, dey had this festival downstairs for the help of the lodge. So ah'd gone down and all de balance when dey turned out up dere, we went down to de tables.
(This Sister Ruth business is the female side of the Odd Fellows?)
Yes, sir. An' ah got down [took ill] there - after dat was over and ah'd gone out to git in de car [someone was taking her home] then ah took de chill. Well, after the chill was over ah begun, yo' know, throwing up. Mah head ached all through dere. Well, ah woke up next mawnin' with a fever. Well, ah had de fever five days. An' after dat mah legs swoled about dat large an' mah foot - not but one - was about dis high. It shine lak glass. Den it became pi-ded [pied] - jest like a snake - brown and clar-water-looking - pided.
(Different colors.)
Well, dis ole man came 'long while ah hobbled to de mailbox - half crawled an' got down dere to git mah mail, and he said, he says, "Daughter whut's de matter?"
(This wasn't the same old man that was at the lodge?)
No sir, hit was one dat always went to cure dose things. He jest askin' me whut's de matter, an' he said, "Well, ah'm goin' give you something that chew kin git somebody that chew got confidence in to make you some tea to bath that laig, an' 'tween now an' de morning you'll see whut's in it.
(Tell me just how this tea was made.)
Well, she [a woman made the tea] tuk it an' put it in a little pot about dat high - de weed.
(What did she make it of?)
Well, ah didn't know mahself - he give me de weed, yo' know, but dey called it John de Conker, but ah didn't know it, an' she made de tea.
(Just out of this one thing?)
Dat one bunch of weeds [probably more than one kind of root], and give me tuh bath mah feet and bath it three times, 'fore de sun got tuh set. Then, when de sun begun tuh set, he tole me tuh tell her to throw it [toward] de sunset, an' ah'd see befo' day whut was in dat leg.
(You had to bathe that leg before the sun set. Then what do you do?)
When it begun tuh set, throw de water out. An' she throwed it fo' me - ah couldn't walk then, ah had to stay where ah bath-ed it at. An' dat night 'bout two 'clock she woke me up an' ah crawled to de fireplace and blowed up a light wit some matches - made up a light and looked down an' dere were five - looked lak young dirt daubers but dey were log sawyers - dey had dat little brown tip on der haids, flat, an' ah took a little white rag an' throw 'em in de fire. Well, Dr. Jedge Hopper [M.D.?] - ah sent fo' him an' he came an' put me some medicine on dere an' - it was red as blood - an' tole me tuh wrap it up. An' de next morning when ah got up dem places where them things Was healed together, an' from that on, why they begin tuh heal. [Here is the perfect situation to help a person be hoodooed - a tired woman, excited and important by lodge promotion, sees the displaced and hostile woman holding the shoe while talking to a well-known cunjurating man. Normally this Would have caused a suspicion if not a fear, but the flattery about the cute- made shoe, the second compliment of the evening deceived her. Our tired woman goes downstairs and overeats and vomits. There was no other explanation - she had been hoodooed.]
Entry 1250
Dat's good tuh cure any poison. Yo' take de fig tree - first yo' take de leaves an' then yo' go an' git the root. Yo' git de root an' de leaves, stir it together an' make a tea. Aftah yo' stir it together an' make de tea, yo' git brimstone, sulphur, sweet milk, an' fifty cents in silver, a ole fifty cents, an' boil it together. Make a tea an' drink the tea three times daily. Take the fig root - boil de fig root an' bathe wit de water an' always throw it to sunrise; if yore poisoned, every bit will come out - it couldn't stay in.
(You drink this tea only from the leaves?)
Outa de leaves.
(And the root tea you use just for bathing?)
Fo' bathing - dat's right.
Entry 1513
I've been hurt once [in 1912] by a woman. Well, I was poisoned in good fashion, I liked to die. I had Dr. A., a medical doctor, and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the 'erbs that I kep home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blin', jis' broke out all the way. And that's what got me my foot. And I - see, I keep that tea.
(What else do you do?)
Jis' roots and teas. Silkroots, blacksnake root and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de siZkroot - and you cut it a inch long and you steep dat in overnight water and put a cover over it. Well, it bitter, and it'll swell. You'll throw up ev'rything in you. De stuff come out of - green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the black- snake root you steep dem together and you drink that. Den, when I got so I could walk, I goes in the woods, take my hatchet. I gits some cherry bark, white oak bark and dogwood root, and bathed that - made a wash of this water, you know, and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine mornings. And den, when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise.
Entry 1535
Three dimes made in the same year - three pieces of silver, but'they must be silver dimes and they must be a dime dat de woman settin' upon. Let me show you. [He shows me a dime.] It mustn't be that, just de neck and the head it must be the whole woman. Well, you must git three pieces of dese and they must be made in the same year, and put 'em into a little vinegar and you take three swallows for nine mornings off of that. And then dose things will begin to worry. And after dey work, den you kin tell whether they're [live things] in you. Den you kin go and git you some mulleins, git you some broom sedge root, git you some siZkroot [silkweed]. You mix all that together, make you a tea. Then you git you some potash, mix that with it. You git a little wormwood and mix with it too.
Entry 1539
One time I was poisoned an' I taken with a pain in my stomic an' head- ache. Well, I taken real sick. I begin to throw up an' ev'rything I throw up was jis' as green as grass an' bitter as gall. Well, they sent fer de doctor. The doctor came. He give me a 'scription of doctor medicine. Well, I taken a dose of de medicine an' de medicine stayed in me I guess about two minutes. An' de medicine made me awfully sick, made me worser than I was. An' I threw it right back up. Well, we had twelve doctors[il!]. [Twelve doctors like every doctor in town is an exaggerated expression not mean to be taken literally - a hyperbole.] They didn't any do me any good. They did me worser instead of good. De medicine would do me worser all de time. So after that, they said, "Well, dere must be something to do." So I sent my sister to the store an' got a box of Squibbs soda an' a box of sulphur. I taken a teaspoonful of that. And that stayed in me. It gave me a little relief. After that I got nine silver dimes. I boiled them dimes good. Then I let the water cool. I drink nine swallows for nine mornin's. An' I improved an' began to get better. Then I got some Eve- an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve] - that's a little roots. I boiled de Eve-an'-Adam an I drinked de tea of that an' I got better.
Entry 2461
I would get me some cinnamon and I would get me some lump sugar and get me a spice. I would go and mix it all up together - see, grind the spice up. Take that and make a tea out of it, understand. Then I would take that tea and I would sprinkle my house, and then I would take me some water, see and I would take nine buckets of water and I would scrub my house. But I would take the Water and not throw it out the door but in the door toward my house. Then I would scrub that and I would take after I scrub my house, I would take and Sprinkle me some sugar, see, brown sugar made out of pure syrup, and sprinkle it at the bed. Well that for luck. That will bring you somebody - a tenant to rent your house.
Entry 12506
Use a poultice of turpentine and flour, and drink red-oak bark tea to remove insects someone has put in you. [Wilmington 231:1.]
Entry 613
I know when mah sister wus a-goin' - someone fix her up by her hat an mah mother - there's a ole witchcraft - of course, you know, jis' like mah father didn't believe in it an' she didn't allow such things at de house. So they tol' mah mother to take some needles - two needles, an' two broomstraws, an' two quartahs whut de lady wid de stars aroun', an' take a pot of boilin' watah an' put it in; an' if anybody, yo' know, did anything to you, those things will go togethah, you know, an' dance; if not [fixed or hurt], it won't. So she tried it. But sure enough it wus true. Then she take an' pour that off in a - I think de watah, it made a tea, you know, had to drink de tea. That's to kill it, de poison. [Wilmington, N. Car., (221), 210:5; at Rocky Point, N. Car.,1933.]
Entry 842
Mah own experience. Yo' see, me an' mah wife isn't tugethah now, cause dere wus anothah man. Ah used tuh sell whiskey an' quite natch'ly if yo' sell whiskey yo'll have plenty friends comin' in. He wus a railroad man an' he come dere an' he telled her dat he could do mo' fo' her den ah could. Well, natch'ly, he wus a friend of mine - after he were comin' dere, natch'ly ah had to take him as a friend cause he spent his money dere an' drink his whiskey. He git drunk, ah'd take ca' of 'im from de officers till he git ready tuh go home. He is a man supposed to have been a root doctor. He fixed up a medicine after he git in touch wit mah wife an'dey went tuh lovin' each othah, goin'on, an den dey couldn't git 'long so good, dey wanta git rid of me. Understand. Dey fixed up dis medicine, so dis man [a root doctor I went to] tole me - de doctor tole me, dis othah root doctor tole me dat it wus rattlesnake, de dust of a rattlesnake. It wus boiled into dis tea - de natural tea whut we drink ever' day, an' broom sage [broom sedge], dis grass; broom sage boiled with pokeroot, boiled in a halfa gallon of watah down to a quart [magic of diminishing amount]. After dat, he put it in a bottle till it become to be three days old, den see he give it to my wife tuh give tuh me. Ah were drinkin' dat. If ah come home so sick or tired until ah hardly could walk, she would give me dis medicine befo' ah eat. Ah got tuh de place so dat when ah set down lak long as ah wus [have been] settin' heah [with you], ah would have tuh git up, cause mah whole body would a'been dead - jes' lak yo' know sometime yore han' go tuh sleep, yo' know. Mah whole body would go tuh sleep. An' ah got tuh de place dat ah could not stand to talk to no woman atall - ah didn't have nutin to do wit her or no othah woman. Only one sister an' mah own father, dat's all ah got; an' ah hated dem, ah didn't go by dem. Ah wus dyin'. Ah got to de place ah couldn't work - ah lost a job - mah job. Ah used tuh run a pawn shop - ah lost a job in dere cause ah couldn't make de [pawn tickets, he probably Was going to say]. [He evidently was moon- lighting - working in pawn shop by day and selling bootleg whiskey by night.] Mah sister come an' hunt me one day an' tole me, said, "Lance, yo' oughta do somepin - where yo' sense? Dere somepin wrong wit yo' - yo' nevah been dis way." Ah said, "Well, dere's nutin fo' me tuh do - ah don't want anythin'." She said, "Well, all right, ah'm goin' see 'bout chew mahself." Says, "Dey ain't but two of us left." She goes to dis man an' tell dis man. Dis man come an' tole me, says, "Now, yo' go back home" - ah didn't have tuh tell 'im anythin', said, "an' if yo' go back home an' open yore trunk, look right down in de back of yore collar. Yore white shirt ironed an' pressed an' lay down dere, yo' ain't wearin' it. Dis lady done fold it nice an' it layin' down - de collar right stiff. Look in de bottom of dat an' yo'll find a little package containin' - about dat long - containin' three brand-new wire nails, flathead wire nails, wit de hairpins, three of 'em, an' a little pinch of salt an' eggshell, jes' tied up togethah in dis package, layin' undah a black comb of yore hair [= hair comb] whut yo' use." Say, "Yo' kin hunt fo' it."
(Under the comb?)
De comb - layin' undah de comb. De comb 'bout dat long, see. Dey wus layin' right up an' down de comb an' de comb wus on top an' it wus layin' right up an' down in de back of mah shirt. An' ah went on back home an' ah found it. He said, "Now, when yo' find dat, yo' bring it to me." Ah car'ed it back to him an' he took de package an' opened it an' showed me whut wus in it - see. Den he says, "Ahm goin' tuh keep dis. Now, whenevah she meet wit dis man agin, yo'll see 'em - yo'll be right dere an' see 'em." Ah says, "All right." He said, "But don't hurt either one of dem. Dey'll hurt deyselfs. [This is a device to protect the doctor in case of a shooting or serious disturbance. He also kept the instrument of cunjuration, the package, for the same reason.] So he fixed de comb - he took de comb an' fixed de comb. Dis man [loving informant's wife] went on out on his work to de railroad. An' he [root doctor] says, "In from three tuh nine days, he won't do her no good." So he went on out an' he got his laig cut off up to his thigh. Well, he lived around three weeks an' shortly aftah dat he died. But ah didn't tell him to do dat, but dat's whut he did with it. She's out dere in de world some place now - but me an' her's not togethah. Now, dat whut happened to me.
(Well, who told you about the snake dust thing. Who told you about that?)
De root doctor.
(What did he say?)
How dis othah man had fixed it? Dis othah man fixed it - he cut de snake - killed de rattlesnake an' cut de head off an' parched it till it come tuh be a dust like. Den he put it in dere, see, an' mix it wit dis broom sage.
(But who had fixed this comb and stuff?)
Mah wife an' him.
Entry 964
Dere somepin did to mah sistah. She go fo' a ice cream sodee on a Friday night an' de othah girls dere didn't like her at all. So she went dere at night an' dey served her ice cream an' dey fixed her a saucer of it, an' after- wards she remembered dey speci'lly bring her saucerful. An' after- ward, purtty soon after she leave, de side of her laig all commence painin' her all de way up. An' purtty soon dey had taken an' carry her home, couldn't walk, where she got sick an' de doctah 'tended her [and could not help her]. An' dat laig had swole so, jes' to de knee - swole so dat it jes' be a bag of skin dere an' yo' see somepin like somepin wus crawlin' up an' down her laig. So mah father, he goes an' git him a ridge bass - a root worker, an' he looked at her an' he give her some tea, some kinda tea in a jar an' tole her she'd be all right in about eight or nine days. Didn't [give] her no 'tenshun an' she seem to be gittin' worse an' worse, an' in about a week an' a half he came dere - it wus in de mawnin', said, "Ah come tuh cure de girl." Father say, "Ah hope so - she didn't rest any last night an' she not restin' now." An' he give him three little tablets 'bout de size of an' aspirin tablet but they were black. He tole us, say, "Git the slop jar." She taken de three, an' in about five minutes time she commence gaggin' an' she gagged up a pure green frog: She re'lly did dere in de slop jar. Ah wus standin' right dere.
(End of 1429.)
(That story he told me about the envelope - throwing it up in the air and having it disappear - he said that the root doctor was old Doctor Harris down in Florence, S. Car.) [Fayetteville, N. Car., (1429), 2579:13.] [Folk Medicine I will divide into two subsections: (l) Principles of Healing, beginning here, and (2) Cure and Protection, which begins on page 410.] [A considerable amount of material about principles of healing, cures and protection has already been given. Here I would like to emphasize two things - folk cures about which we have heard little; and the fact that disease, sickness, pain, bad luck, everything in witchcraft and hoodoo is a spirit.] [The problems of health are many, difficult and expensive. It is unfortunate that they should also be encumbered with prejudice and superstition. Concerning the latter - believers in witchcraft, hoodoo and magic throw a halo about their heads, claiming as their authority the Bible, the Word of God: - (l)he [Manasseh] observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards (2 Ch.33:6) - (2) Saul had put away those that had faniliar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land (1 Sam.28:3)- (3) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live (Ex.22:18).] [One informant expresses the attitude of witchcraft and hoodoo believers as well as the view of Biblical fundamentalists:]
Entry 1391
Well now, jest lak a woman in a pregnant condition - now, ah kin take dat mockingbird aig an' fix it an' go scatter it in her tea an' give dat woman some, an' dat chile will nevah be nuthin but a tattler an' news-carrier, be jest busy bee or anything.
Entry 1511
[These three names are for the same plant.]
I went up in the country an - with mah mother, an' mah husband stayed at home. But it's mah home dat he stayin'. An' of co'se he wus goin' with another woman an' he had her in mah room. An' so when I come back I went to bed. An' she had put somepin in mah mattress for me. An' so I went to the medical doctor an' he told mah mother that I better see a 'erb doctor. [Evidently she explained to medical doctor that she had been tricked and he advised the mother to find a herb doctor. I found this sort of advice several times - see Index and Introduction.] He [the 'erb doctor] come to me an' he said I wus hurt, an' he told me to take ev'rything off of mah bed an' scal' [scald] mah bed off an' look in the mattress. An' I looked in the mattress. An' he had a piece in it jis' about that long - a little bag with a whole lot of little stuff in it. An' so he made me some teas. An' there was silkweed, an' whiskey, an' High John the Conker an' Low John - an' made me a tea of it. An' I took that three times a day. Then I took a bottle of three S's [SSS]. An' that's whut cured me.
Entry 1580
Take a swamproot. (Swamproot.) Yes, your back is weak and that strengthen your back. If you is not no breedin' woman, that'll make you breed. And they say you can take ginger root. Have you ever heard of that? And you can take ginger root, if you breedin' and done got caught - well, you can take ginger root and that makes you have a miss, you see. A hot, hot tea and you drink it at bedtime, and you get into bed and cover up and that begins to make your blood hot and you begin to sweat, and then the next morning everything there what you looking for.
Entry 3438
Dog livah will tie yo' up.
(Just how do they do that?)
Yo' gits dat dog livah. Cut dat dog while he live an' take de livah from 'im, an' dey'll take dat dog livah an' put it in whiskey or in de tea or anything, an' - if dey kin git to yo' - yo'll nevah do nuthin. (You say it will tie you up. How do you mean?) If yo' connect wit a woman - if a man connect wit a woman, git fastened.
Entry 3633
Yo' kin take a snail an' put it - yo' know, jes' lak yo' take a snail now, yo' know, yo' crack it or sompin an' yo' kin put it in dis man's coffee or tea or somepin an' he can't go out, unless yo' say so, or unless yo' 'gree wit 'im or sompin othah lak dat. Got a man ah love an' all dat, but yet dat snail, yo' see, it got it slowin' down.
Entry 3696
[As ants cause (No.33llf.), so they cure impotence.]
Yo' kin git nine red ants an' boil 'em an' dey will give yo' courage, if yo' drink that tea three times a day.
(If a woman has taken your courage away?) Yes, it will give you courage.
Entry 3764
He can undo it [impotence] with holy watah an' dese flag lilies dat has de big red an' yellow flowers dat grow in de yard. [Holy water in New Orleans can be consecrated water from a Roman Catholic Church, or water blessed by professional spirituals or shrine keepers; but commercial sellers here and elsewhere prefer holy oil.] Well, jis' git one or two of de buds, little leafs, an' de small leaf of de lily, an' yo' put it in a little hot watah an' let it steep an' make a tea. [The water becomes holy by reading Scripture over it, usually part of a Psalm, or sometimes a prayer.] Yo' wash off wit dat an' it [ailment] will be all gone. Dat will remove de spell. Dat will relieve. [New Orleans, La.,
(803 0r 804), 1126:1.]
Entry 3778
Git chew some stingin' net- tles - know dose thing ah mean. Git chew a root of dose an' boil 'em, an' put some honey, sugar an' salt in dere, an' take it fo' nine mawnin's - nex' nine mawnin's an' dat'll bring it back.
(What kind of salt did you put in that?)
Table salt.
(That will bring his nature back.) [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1043), 1693:5.]
3778. If he's runnin' roun' wit wimmin, she could take his courage away from 'im. Well, she could take his courage by wipin' 'im. Him an' 'er have a connec- tion an' she could take it wit 'er undahcloth, or she could take it wit de dish- rag. Each one of de ways is diff'ren'. Yo' would have to use a diff'ren' remedy on each one of de ways to git dat han' offa yo'. [Informant calls the undercloth and dishrag hands (see pp.519-669), which they are.] If she take it with de dishrag, why yo' kin go out in de woods an' git chew a stingin' nettle root. It got roots on it jes' lak a nut branch, jes' lak nut branch, an' yo' go down until yo' git to de third nut an' yo' take dat nut an' make a tea out of it, an' dat'll knock dat out. (You mean you swallow the tea then and that will bring back the courage, if you have been fixed up with the dishrag.) Den if yo' been fixed up wit 'er undahclothes, den yo' have to take de sandy pea root. An' hit don' have any nuts atall on it. It's jes' a root dat goes off lak dat. Ah've been in dat condition. Well, now yo' take dat stalk up an' den git de root of it, an' jes' clip de whole root off an' den put it in a bottle of watah, about a quart of watah an' take drinks offa dat. Now, dat ain't nuthin - jes' as quick as dis othah one, yo'll have to take drinks offa dat, too.
(This sandy pea root, is that the same as that they call the shame briar?)
Ah 'clare ah don' know, De onliest name ah know is de sandy pea root.
Entry 3789
Yo' take onions an' sulphur - a piece of a red onion an' make a stew out of it. Make a sort of a tea an' drink it, an' yo'll kill dat.
(Get your nature back.)
Entry 3793
A woman kin give a man some of 'er - sickness. But de way dat chew have to do is git yo' some red shank.
(Red shank. That's a root?)
Yes, kin git dat red shank - lak rusty when yo' dig out de ground, an' as far as it bein' rusty, why it's got plenty of blood in it yo' know. Yo' kin take dat an' make a tea out of it an' yo' drink dat, an' yo' drink a good mouthful of dat tea evah night twelve nights, an' aftah dat twelve nights, aftah de twelve nights is ovah yo' kin go out an' try it. Yo' kin do a little bettah, de nex' night bettah, de nex' night bettah, an' on an' on until yo' jes' cooperate things lak yo' wanta. (That is if a man has lost his nature because some woman has put a spell on him. This restores his nature?) Sure.
Entry 3950
[This brief rite is merely to create a margin title for a common belief found everywhere - see preceding margin title and many places in HOODOO.] Den yo' kin take - like yo' got a man an' yo' wan' 'em love yo', wan' 'im go crazy 'bout chew. Yo' take some of yore monthly period an' put it in some of 'is tomatoes or eithah coffee or tea. Put a drop or two in dat tomatoes, yo' see, an' den when he come tuh eat 'em, he nevah know de diff'rence. He'd go crazy 'bout chew.
Entry 3986
Yo' take dat chamber lye when yo' cook, make coffee or tea. Yo' jis' take dat an' put dat in de coffee or de tea an' let 'em drink dat. An' if yo' wash yore face, dey put jis' a little in de watah, de watah where yo' won't tell [notice] it, an' let 'em wash dere face wit it.
(What will that do?) Dat will hold 'em, make 'em love yo'.
Entry 6378
Yo' soak yore feet an' den yo' git a knife an' scrape dat skin off - some of dat dead skin. Make it up an' put it in sompin tuh drink. Nachurally ef yo' drink tea, put it in yore tea or in coffee. An' take yore fingahnails an' toenails an' parch dem an' beat dem up an' put it in coffee or tea. An' wash undah yuh arm an' put dat in de tea. Dat vill make 'em love yuh, make dem real jealous of yo', too. An' ef yo' don't min' 'en, make 'em kill yo'.
Entry 6448
Yo' cuts yore fingahnails an' yore toenails evah Monday or evah Friday, until yo' git a tablespoonful of it, an' den yo' take dat an' put it in whiskey. Dat's makin' yo' love me, see. Put dat in whiskey. An' den yo' put so much of dat - ah would - in yore coffee or yore tea an' let chew drink off it. Or yo' kin git it in dat powdah an' sprinkle on yore food, an' yo' eat it. (But you must cut these fingernails and toenails on Friday or Monday.)
Entry 6504
[Contrary to two preceding beliefs, the contrary is also believed.] You take the bottom of your feet and you wash it good and you scrape it. And you put in the water and drink coffee or tea and that will leave a man drink it. If you want him back, he will stay with you.
Entry 6550
Dey use a frog. Kin take a frog an' kill 'im, an' git a drop of 'is blood an' a drop of someone's blood an' put it tuhgethah. An' put it in some coffee or whiskey or tea or sompin lak dat, an' give it tuh dem tuh drink. Well, dey'll be poisoned an' go crazy an' yo' have tuh send 'em tuh 'sylum.
Entry 6551
Git a red frog an' git some of de warts off 'im, an' some of 'is blood. If yo' kin slice him in 'is hind laigs dere, yo' know, git some blood outa 'im dat way. Take one of dese Warts an' boil it an' make yo' a tea outa it. An' take some'a de blood an' git intuh dis tea an' give a fellah a dose of it, he will become nervous, jis' lak he would have de St. Werdis [Vitus'sl dance. His arm or 'is hand or wherevah in it takes place at - he be settin' still an' soon as he gittin' settin' still, be jis' all ovah shake lak dat [demonstrates]. But yo' gotta git one of dose ole red toads dey call 'em, dese red speckled ones - git one of dem.
Entry 6606
Snakes, any kinda snakes, any kinda insex [insects], if dere somebody yo' wanta put snakes an' scorpions in an' kill 'em. Yo' kin take de snake an' kill it, any kinda snake yo' wanta be in a person. Yo' kill dis snake an' aftah yo' kill dis snake yo' name de person whosom- evah yo' wanta kill. Yo' would name 'em. An' fo' nine days yo'd go dere an' turn 'im ovah. He'd be dead. Yo' turn 'im ovah callin' de person's name fo' nine days. An' de ninth day yo' go dere an' take dat thin' an' parch 'im up, yo' know, an' jis' make a dust outa it. An' if yo' wanta put it in whiskey or amythin', or pat it in some tea or anythin' lak dat, yo' put de dust in yo' knoy vtut cheo make from dat dead snake, or scorpion or spidah or anythin', an' den yo' give it to den. It won't hurt nobody but dem dat chew called dere name. An' den when de ninth day's up dey'll take sick, an' den yo' know, dem dere snakes an' scorpions ll be livin' in dem people, whut yo' give dat dust to - in nine days tine.
Entry 6658
Ah had a aunt. A man got 'er hair. See, he got mad becuz she wouldn't marry 'im. Well, he took a piece of hair from 'er mole [mold] while she wuz layin' down on 'er bed fast asleep. All right, took a piece undah 'er arm. (Both arms or one?) De lef'. An' den took a piece some- where else - down below. Dey took it tuh a new elm tree [at Algiers?].
(They took it to a new elm tree or to New Orleans?)
Yes, all right. Well, de only way, if dey didn't know nuthin 'bout it, it would liable been too late. Well, aftah dey [the man] went tuh someone in] Al- giers, dey had it fixed. Dey also had some glass, some kinda black glass [prob- ably broken from a black bottle]. Dat means fo' tuh kill 'er. An' it would have killed 'er, see, but she wuz saved by St. Anthony. Well, now, he came back [from Algiers or New Orleans] an' she begged an' begged an' cried. He told 'er dat he would not hurt 'er, see. She wus moanin' [molting?] an' moanin' [molting] away an' de only way wuz to git dat hair an' dat thin' back - dat wuz de only [way]. Well, all right. Aftah he done it, he wouldn't give her up. Well, twixt 'em, dey went out dere, way ovah de trees [in the woods] somewheres, an' got some root. A man wuz sellin' some kinda roots. He died [he is dead now]. Well, he got some root in a hurry an' made a poultice. He had some of 'er othah thin's, piece of 'er ministratin'. An' dis man got some kinda calomel [surely calamus] root. De drug stores got it [calomel], but any drug store don't got [calamus] becuz dey wouldn't know whut it is. Got some of dat an' made a tea. An' got some dog dirt, [also] yellah clay, cleah yellah clay, an' beat it up. She hadda take it though. Took it [dog dirt and yellow clay]. An' den got some new - bran'-new cloth an' bind 'er all arou', see. When he bind all aroun' 'er, well it somepin came outa 'er - through 'er bowels. Dey were kinda lak a rattlesnake - jet black. Dey had 'er fixed dataway in New Orleans-Algiers. [Algiers is a Ovah de mivah part of New Orleans.] But she pulled through an' de man came back. See, didn't know she would pull through. Aftah dat she lived ten years.
(What was the name of this doctor out here that is dead now?)
[A name informant couldn't pronounce or spell.]
Entry 6749
Yo' git some corn shucks an' yo' boil 'em an' yo' make a tea. An' don' let 'er drink no watah, no cold watah or othah kinda watah, excep' dat. An' dat'll drive it out an' dry it up [measles].
Entry 6767
If a man give yo' some poison - yo' git de poison in yo'. Den yo' make a tea out de dirt daubah nest an' drink it, an' dat'll kill it.
Entry 6820
Take de grapevine an' de gourd vine an' dese things dey call sunflow- ahs, an' yo' kin make a tea wi' dat. An' dat is very good tuh take fo' de blood if anyone go tuh work an' work on yore blood agains' chuh. Well, yo' kin go tuh work an' work wit dat, an' nobody kin nevah hurt chew. A gourd vine is a very simple medicine tuh take against poison any time. If anybody take it, dey nevah git poisoned.
(Well, what would they take from the gourd vine?)
Jis' de leaves, eithah de vine.
Entry 6893
Yo' know lak dey have neuralgy [neuralgia] in de throat an' mouth an' haid. All right, yo' be swoled all up. Yo' go tuh a red oak bark tree an' git de bark on de sunrise side an' make tea off it, an' jis' steep yo'self wit it lak dat. Jis' have de watah, dat tea, in a pan an' jis' steep off, steep off. Open yuh mouth an' jis' let it, let it go all on. An' yo' kin make poultices if yo' wanta tuh put all roun' yuh neck or wherevah it's hurtin', an' dat'll scattah it.
Entry 6985
[The following rite, a MISCELLANEOUS CAUSE of sexual impotence (pp. 2341-2391), should have followed margin title WATER RUNNING, p.2389:] De willah tree, de weepin' willah. Dey tell me dey kin take de roots of dat an' make a tea or eithah dry it an' sprinkle it on a man an' yo'll stay wit 'im. He'll nevah have no connection wit no one. If he start, he'll fall. (Well, who would do that?) De woman, his wife, anybody, if he's bad fo' runnin' aftah othah wimmins. Or if she's de same way, a man git dat, he can't stay, he'll leave. He'll git mad wit de woman an' leave her. It's eithah way [you can stop a man or woman].
(Well, then when he came home, he couldn't do anything with his wife either?)
Oh, he be all right when he git home - jes' stay home all de time.
(Oh, he wouldn't be all right with other women?)
No, not fo' nobody else, jes' dat woman.
Entry 7014
Yo' kin stop 'em in two ways ah know of. Yo' kin git chew a piece of deerhide - yes sir, de skin of a deerhide. An' yo' kin make a tea outa dat an' give dem dat tuh drink an' dat'll stop 'em.
(Stop them from drinking liquor?)
Yes sir.
Entry 7039
Mah husband's a heavy likkah drinkah but he don' drink now see. He don' drink now becuz ah broke him of dat. Now, yo' have tuh ordah dis. Dey call it cinnamon bark. Dat's all ah evah known, dat ah evah did [for a heavy drinker]. An' it made as a tea, but chew cain't give him de reg'lah cinnamon bark. Well, yo' go tuh de [she could not think of blacksmith, if she knew it] - yo' know where did man fix horseshoe. Well, yo' gO an' GIT CHEW A LI'LE PIECE WHERE HE TRIM OFF DE HORSE HOOFS. YO' CAIN'T GIVE 'IM MUCH 'CUZ IT'S DANGEROUS. Yo' may git chew a piece, well say 'bout large as dis pea. An' yo' boil dat cinnamon bark an' dis heah horse hoof tuh- gethah, an' yo' strain dat an' put it intuh a extra li'le bottle. An' den when dey drink dat, drink coffee or tea, well yo' have tuh take a teaspoon; yo' know, jes' lak dey measure thin's as a medicine. Yo' take a teaspoon an' take it half full an' po' it in 'is coffee, where he cain't taste it, an' let 'im drink it an' he'll finely he nevah drink no mo' whiskey. Mah man a drinkah an' ah broke 'im from it.
(Well, you must know.)
Entry 7210
(All right.) = [Ready to start.]
Ah had a pair of socks an' ah had a undahsuit. Ah came from mah work an' ah rolled it up, ah couldn't git in mah room, an' ah jis' shoved in between de screen an' de do'. An' ah left. When ah come back, mah undahsuit an' mah socks wuz gone. An' ah do know whut taken place wit me aftah dat, an' ah do know whut ah wuz told through fortune- tellahs.
(All right, tell me all about it.)
De fortunetellah told me dat ah were hurt in some a mah clothes. She did not say whut kinda clothes, but it fell back tuh mah remembrance dat if ah wuz hurt, it must have been mah undahsuit an' mah socks. (Well, how did you know you were hurt? Why did you go to this fortuneteller? Did something happen to.you? Were you sick or something before you went to the fortuneteller?) No, sir, ah wuzn't sick den. Ah wuz not sick den.
(What did you go to that fortuneteller for?)
Well, ah went tuh de doctor. Went tuh Natchez Mississippi Hospital in [nine- teen] thirty an' ah stayed ovah dere 'bout thirteen or seventeen days. An' de doctor seemly dey couldn't fin' de complaint, whut wuz de mattah wit me. He said dat ah wuz all right. Well, ah wúz still sick. Well, ah decided in mah mind - ah hear'd de people talkin' about hoodoos an' witchcraft an' fortune- telZahs. It came tuh me in mah mind by a friend of mine, he said, "Why don' chew go an' see such-an'-such a one?' He said, "Dey kin tell yo' things." Well, ah decided tuh go. Well, ah went tuh dem an' dey told me dat ah wuz hurt through clothes. An' ah ast dem, "Well, whut could yo' do fer me? Could yo' cure me?" Dey tole me, "Yeah." Dey believe through de powah of God dat dey could cure me. An' dey made me up a tea. Now, ah don' know whut kinda tea it 'twuz, but any- way dey give dat tuh me fer tuh drink an' ah drinked it an' ah really hadn't rest fer [so many] nights.
Entry 7225
[This woman was called Humpadee [= Hwmpty] without the Dumpty because of her great size. As an unconscious defensive mechanism, she laughed from the moment she entered the room until she left. Hers was an agile mind. Later I would meet two women of similar size: A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE (No.1257) in Savannah, Ga., PP. 1268-1276, and THE LAUGHING DOCTOR (1125) of Waycross, Ga., Pp.1470-1500.] She kin take de milk outa huh breast an' when he come in fah [for] eatin' food, joo know, she jis' put dis right in 'is coffee or in 'is tea, an' make a wush [wish]. Well, afo' [= afore = before] she do it, she got tah take an' grease huh dis rag - listen at me good - grease huh dis rag in lahd [lard] w'ah [what] she cook wit. Den aftah greasin' in lahd, she gota rub it undah huh lef' ahm [arm]. Git all dat stench from undah 'eah [heah] wipe de cup wit it. Den aftah she wipe his cup out, den she milk 'uh breast in 'ere, jis' put so many drops
[number not given]. Dat'll make him love huh an' keep 'im dere [in her house]
too. [Richmond, Va., (404), 358:9.] [For 2 other rites of hers, see No.1338, p.453, and No.1711, p.521.]
Entry 7253
A young boy, a young girl wus wild about 'im an' he wus crazy tuh go tuh school - he didn't caah tuh fool wit girls. Well, her people did all sech as dat [hoodoo work] an' so she slips, knowin' whut tuh git - she had some of dis snail dust, an' worm dust, an' also some ground puppy dust. [The latter is called ground puppy or mud puppy = chango or hellbender or salamander. We have here 3 dusts: snail, worm and mud puppy.] De end of dat, she, knowin' evahthin', bein' aroun' [experienced], she put a li'le [of these 3 dusts] around in de band of 'is hat. He become deaf. Den he got speechless, he couldn't talk. Den he got mindless. He had no misery nowhere but, see, jis' aroun' here [demonstrates].
(Throat.)
So he wus brought here [to New Orleans] an' de second night he wus here de lady [doctor] dat treated 'im dat day when he got here, ah helped 'er. Ah was right dere wit 'er. She sent tuh de drug store an' got a dime of castor oil, an' she got some sweet oil an' laudanum mixed. I am uncertain about laudanum, which transcriber transcribes lavender.] An' den she got pure olive oil. An' den she goes in de henhouse an' she gits a white hen turd, a dry one, an' she put dat intuh a teacup an' drew de tea out. Now, she gave 'im dis whole dime of [sweet] oil, an' as she brewed de tea, why she put nine drops of dis pure olive oil in dere an' she had 'im tuh gargle 'is throat good wit dat. She let 'im lay until 'is bowels moved, an' it moved quickly, becuz he seemed tuh be very much clogged up. An' jis' as soon as dey moved, den she gave 'im five spoonfuls of sal he- patica. An' de nex' mawnin' she goes an' gits some shame flowah. [This Shame flower, the sensitive vine or brier Schrankia Uncinata, is usually called: Shame brier, shame vine, sensitive brier, shame face, Shame Jim, or Shamin' Judy (see P.646).] She gits two of de li'le bu'bs [bulbs], yuh know. Evah heah [hear] yuh look at 'em [the plant] an' say shame, dey fold up? [I probably answered this question by shaking my head, yes or no. For saying shame to the plant or blos- som, see No.2290, p.646.] She got two of dose [bulbs]. She gits de leaf off de flag lily, one leaf, an' one peetal [petal] off de bloom. An' she makes a tea of dat an' she bathes 'is neck an' haid good wit dat. An' den, when she got through bathin' 'im wit dat, she gave 'im three aspirins. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't notice nuthin, but he went tuh sleep an' he slept all dat night. De nex' mawnin' we got up, we were fixin' breakfast." "Hello' [he says]. Here he comes walkin', lookin' well. She had a very purtty li'le girl dere which she Vus raisin' [bringing up] an' he looked at 'er an' smiled. Soon as she got close tuh 'im, he threw 'is han's on tuh 'im an' say, "Hey, " the firs' time he had spoken in nine months. Fo' fifteen days dat wus all she done wus tuh keep dat treatment up. His speech wus almost normal. His hearin', his sense of evah- thing wus almost normal. An' den, when she got 'im dat good, she asked me tuh tell 'er a good nerve builder to build 'im up. Ah said, "Well, give 'im Dr. Miles Nerve Medicine, an' Dr. Miles Anti-pain Cure." Ah wish yuh would see 'im today. He is a big hearty man as lives. An' he had lost 'is mind completely.
Entry 10652
Dey jes' take de red ants an' make a tea, yo' see. Well, yo' don't know nuthin about it. Yo' know, dey may make some iced tea or lemon tea or somepin lak dat an' give it to yo', or coffee. Yo' don't know when yo' got it, but it will come to really kill yo' - stop yo' from makin' watah, see.
(That will stop you from making water.)
Yo' can't make no mo' watah.
Entry 10712
Ah heard dey tke, not de egg, dey take where a bird sit at in dat nest an' take some of de trash out of dat.
(The manure.)
Yes sir, an' put it in dat, an' yo' can't stay nowhere.
(Put it where?)
Put it in whiskey or tea or coffee, an' give yo' wandering mind.
(That gives you a wandering mind.)
Entry 10891
Yo' kin put cat hair in a person's whiskey or coffee or tea or somepin lak dat an' dey'll begin tuh have fits an' act lak a cat or somepin. Den too, yo' kin take dog hair an' do de same thing, an' de dog hair git in it [drink] an' it'll run yo' crazy.
Entry 11400
Scrape fingernails, put in coffee, tea, or whiskey, an' you'll go crazy. [Charleston 572:2.]
Entry 12324
Yo' could use de strucken wood, de wood where it strucken by lightnin', an' dey said dat dey use it on a person an' dey said dat dis person will soon die.
(How would you use it on a person?)
Well, jes' go tuh work an' make a tea an' put de tea tuh de bread, from de same wood. Jes' take it an' put it in a pot an' boil it, an' give de person de tea. Or eithah jes' mix it in whatsomevah dey eat. From lightnin'-strucken [wood]. (Well, what about burning the wood. Did you say something would happen about that?) If dey burn de wood, de person will soon die.
(Who Would soon die?)
Whosomevah goes tuh work an' use de wood. Well, if dey use it In de Name of de Lord, dey couldn't take it, dey say. But yo' kin use it fo' whut chew wanta use it fo'.
Entry 10619
Well, if yo' have a person tuh leave yo' an' yo' wanta bring dem back- yo' loves dem. Yo' loved ones gits scattahed off an' yo' wanta bring 'em back tuh yo'. Dere's two roots grows in de woods, ah'm tellin' yo' truth, dey has two leaves. We calls 'em Eve-and-Adam an' de roots of dem roots is got two little knots about little bigger den a coffee bean - two little knots. One of 'em is a woman an' one is a man. Yo' take 'em an' dry 'em on a stove. Put 'em on a stove an' dry 'em dere stiff an' spongy - spongy like a sponge. But chew cut 'em up when dey gits dry an' make a softa powdah outa dem - a soft powdah. If dat woman drinks coffee, tea, or anything dat she drinks, well yo' kin jes' sprinkle jes' a little bit in de bottom of de cup an' den pour on it. Pour a drink in an' den she drink dat she'll be crazy 'bout chew. Ah believe dat's de truth. Ah'm halfway telling yo' by experience. [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1008). 1630:3.]
Entry 13026
If you are tricked inside, drink tea made of grated silver dime and gunpowder. [Vicksburg 1042:5.]
Entry 13225
Lak ah wus yore cook an' ah wanted tuh gain influence wit chew some way, ah would fix yore coffee or yore tea, or yore ice cream an' spit in it. Yo' gotta do dat nine times. Yo' go ahead, yo' done drink it. Yo' don't know whut ah'm doin' an' when yo' do, dat'll give me de influence of yo'.
Entry 2294
If they want a man and can't control him, they kin make him shimmy-tail tea. They boil their underclothes and let him drink, and put it in his food and they say they'll have control over him. And they say it's a real fact, too. [Shimmy-tail tea is known every- where.]
Entry 4107
An' den put eithah a man or a woman chamber lye in tea or coffee or whiskey or whichsomevah it is, jis' feeds it tuh 'em - a teaspoonful at de time evah mawnin'. An' take a man - an' cut chure fingahnails, an' cut chure toenails, an' soak yuh feet in warm watah. An' take a razor blade or somepin an' shave dat dead skin from undah de bottom of yuh feet, an' yuh could put it on a little pan an' parch it on de stove. Yuh kin put dat in sompin, tea or coffee, an' dat will hold 'em togethah. AH KNOWS ALL DEM THIN'S CUZ AH'VE TRIED 'EM.
Entry 1454
Yo' know dese roaches. Yo' see, yo' git dem roaches an' draw 'em. Yo' know, dey kill 'em an' den draw yo' a tea an' give to 'em tuh drink - say dat will kill [cure] de fits from 'em.
Entries from source headings
These entries are listed under the following headings in the source volume:
- URINATE ON NEW BRICK HEATED AFTER; TEA FROM 9 RED PEPPER PODS; TAKEN HOT WITH WHISKEY — Volume 3, entries 3812. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → SEXUAL IMPOTENCE → CURES FOR SEXUAL IMPOTENCE.
- (9) BOIL EARTH ON WHICH MAN URINATES - USE AS DROPS; IN HIS TEA OR COFFEE - TO KEEP HOME — Volume 3, entries 4151. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → URINE.
- WILLOW - BARK FROM NORTH SIDE; TEA FOR NEUASMEE — Volume 4, entries 6987. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE → CURES FOR AND PROTECTION AGAINST AILMENT AND DISEASE.
- TEA FROM: CLOTHES OF DEAD - ADAM-AND-EVE - ALOES; DOCTORS [M.D.'S] WORK ON YOU FOR T.B. — Volume 4, entries 7944. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → DEATH AND BURIAL AND GRAVEYARD → COFFIN - DOLL BABY - BURIAL - BONES → COFFIN REAL OR MOCK.
- WOMAN GIVES MAN TEA FROM HER DRAWERS; YO' [HE] KIN GO OUT [LOOKING FOR A WOMAN]; BUT CHEW [HE] AIN'T GOIN' BE NO GOOD OUT — Volume 5, entries 10232. Source context: ADDITIONAL RITES AND BELIEFS → SEX AND IMPOTENCE REAPPEAR.
- COW MANURE IN HER TEA CURES WIFE'S BEWITCHMENT — Volume 5, entries 11138. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
- WOMAN BOILS HER URINE - LETS SET ABOUT 7 DAYS; STRAINS - PUTS 5 DROPS IN HIS COFFEE - TEA; OR WHISKEY - SHE DOES THIS TO KEEP HIM FROM ALCOHOL — Volume 5, entries 13374. Source context: "CHANNEL DE WORLD".
Source passage
printed interview with editorial and production layers · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I goes to work. I goes down to the drug store an' gits me a box of sulphur, goes to the store
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[grocery]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' gits me a box of cayenne peppah an' some salt brian. I goes out on the hill.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Fresh fish salt brian
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[fresh (= unused) brine from salted fish]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
. Gets me botter
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[bottle]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
of vinegar. I goes out dere on the hill an' fields an' I digs mah'erbs. I goes on back an' boils 'em, strip zim
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[strips 'im]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
off, bathe zim from his knees on down.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What sort of herbs?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Whut did I get? Runnin' brier an' pokeberry
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[poke or pokeweed]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
root. An' he's up walkin' an' goin' all up yonder on the railroad track now, pickin' up coal ev'ry mornin' of his life.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Theoretically, large lumps of coal fall from an overloaded tender of a steam engine or smaller lumps from coal cars of a freight or coal train; actually, human hands usually assisted the coal. Any walking along tracks was illegal.1
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' after no sooner 'an
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[than]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I got 'im up, the prior
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
told 'im he wanted his room - he couldn't rent it no longer. An' told 'im he wanted 'im keep me away from there. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
was goin' to these here so-said-to-be cunjures an' gettin' dus'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[dust]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' stuff, an' I found stuff 'tween the mat- tresses
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[while]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
he
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
out at work. So after I cut mah cards an' find out where de stuff was, why I went on an' get it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What do you mean cutting your cards?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Cuttin' mah cards? Run a deck of cards. I kin run a deck of cards an' tell anything I want to know. Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What did you want to find out?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Find out where he had it put.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Now listen. I wan'a tell yah. I take a deck of cards an' tell anybody more than they wan'a know. Not only take a deck of cards, I kin take a cup an' tell anybody more than they wants to know.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
See.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I'm out of a family - I'm a son of a mother that could even down-tell
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[out- tell]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
you - she walk in here an' call your name, tell you where you live, tell you the number of your house, how many children you had, whether your wife was livin' or not, w'a' kin'a hair she had, how old she was, W'a' her name is. That's the kin'a mother I had.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one will continue later.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Where did she live?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Greensboro, South Carolina. That's where I come from. I come from there where it
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[root working and allied practices]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
is known to be the very best dey is goin'. Yes sir, yes sir.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I don't care w'a' kin'a spell's on a person or how a person is sufferin', I kin walk in the house, I'll be in the house five minutes - not only that, I don' haft, I don't har'ly even, don' haf to ast a person. I kin walk along the street an' lbok at a person an' tell w'uther they's hurt or not.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh. Is there anything about their appearance, their face or anything that.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Well, I tell yuh. A person of that kind kin see it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Oh, I see.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[You]
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
see it.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir. A person of that kind kin see it - a person of, like myself. You see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows, you see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Uhuh. I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows. An' then on top of my knowin', I know whut to do to break it up
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
- whut to cure it.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
An' then on top of that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[there is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a things as they call this here witch'ry. You believe in witch'ry?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I've heard about it but I don't know. I have never had any experience. I don't know whether to believe in it or not.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, did
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[do]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
you believe in there
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a thing as a witch?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Well, I don't know.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, there is sich a thing as a witch.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(There're the things that ride you, aren't they?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(How do you keep them from riding you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, you kin take a pair of scissors an' put underneath your head or you kin take a new piece of lumber an' put it underneath your head
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[the latter being unusual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(What are these witches?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, I'll tell you. A witch is a person that has sold herself to the devil an' he comes in a spirishal
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[spiritual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
way. See, jis' like you has got your mind on a home wheresomever you live, you worry about your parents, your people, your brother or your father or your wife or your sweetheart or your mother or your daughter an' they rest upon you - in your mind - why it's quite nach'al
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[natural]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
fer something to have happened to 'em an' directly they feel it. You kin feel it. You see, you kin feel the burdens of it. Well, the same way with a person dat's so deeply into anything an' 'twill follow 'em in their sleep. Have you read any such or in your travels? Haven't you already see
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[seen]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
the future out of your work in your sleep?
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Side two begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, that's the way that is. So then, on top of being so interested in it, self confidence is the best of all. Self confident. I walks in a house - if I had someone to send I would go an' say - I could send fo' 'er. I walked in a house up here on Catherine Street in thirty-five
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[1935]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
dat people had come from Petersburg
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Virginia]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
over here that wus suppose to be root doctors - it's no better than Florence Turner. Dr. E. Turner ou' chere
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[out here]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
wus her doctor. He walked in the house - she'd taken sick. He walked in the house an' ast that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[whether]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she had caused her little boy to call 'im. He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
The doctor looked at 'er. He question 'er an' all. He says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I saw Florence's sickness that night - she got up five o'clock an' went out with a friend of hers.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(What was really wrong with her?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Well, I'll tell yuh - an' so I 'us at mah home. I gets up the nex' mornin', at duh breakvust table, an' tole mah
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[female]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
frien' w'a' I seed in mah sleep. I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
- I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said dat Florence an' Henry lef' here at five o'clock this mormin' I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Den, I went on mah job at work in the coalyard. They brought her in home nine o'clock dat mornin' unconscious. I came in
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[after work]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
to mah supper. She wus rollin' to me. I walks in the room - Dr. Turner'll tell yuh the same thing - I walked in the room an' tol' 'em, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
The doctor turn aroun' to me, jis' like this here, says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
How do you know?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[This is my only example of a doctor and doctor confronting each other. It happens in the presence of the doctor's patientl]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I.sit right down side de bed
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[aping the doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
an' tole huh
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[her]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
, ev'ry- where day'd went - I's mah house 'sleep in bed - tole her whut kin'a woman serve de table, how she set, where an' how the glasses wus. She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She sent an' got 'im. When he come in - he wus about an hour comin' - he come in, he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He gits in the car an' goes to the bank an' gits money, come back, fill the 'scription. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gives 'er a dose of that medicine an' made it worser.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[End of side two.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[Side three begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I tole 'im, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She's right over here on Catherine Street - I mean on Williams Street, in ten- hunderd block. She'll tell you the same words tonight. I kin go an' call 'er up out of 'er bed. Ev'rybody roun' there tell you who cause her to be livin' today. I went an' got mah stuff an' fixed it for 'er an' I got groun' puppies out of 'er. I got things out of 'er looked like fish lice. You ever see fish lice?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(Yes.)
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Made mah tea from mah runnin'-brier root. Got mah grain
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[green]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gourd seed - guts out of a grain gourd. Went up here on Windsors
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Farm, paid seventy-five cent fo' one quart of black-cow milk - milk whilest it's hot. Brought it back an' give it to 'er, after I give 'er d'other medicine. An' she jis' as helpless as a newborn baby, couldn't raise her han', an' wus scared to death, scramblin', tryin' to git out de bed. Think ah'm tellin' a lie? Ah'll git me a car and drive ovah dere an' prove it to you. There's another fellah live right chere on Moore Street below me - use to, he
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
don't live there now - call 'im John Ham. John Ham, whut been sick, claimed to have the rheumatism. Him an' his aunt had spent ovah three-hunderd dollahs on 'im. So I tole 'im, I said, one day out dere I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
there ain't a thing in the worl
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"'
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
- he's showin' me about his leg - I say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[where the good doctors are]
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
You believe in that mess?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I kin cure yuh.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin all the time, yuh see.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Kin yuh, Lin?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Yeah."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(What did he call you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(Lin.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Mah name is Lindsay, but he call me Lin jis fo' a short name.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[End of side three.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[Side four begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"an' when I dress this house,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"if it's true,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I don't care whut the doctor says,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"the doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Whut!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"De doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Huh!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Don't talk like that,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you don't know who you talkin' tuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if Lil says for me to cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, Lindsay,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"God above my God an' your God, too."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I'm your earthly Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"How do you know?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"there ain't a thing in the worl"'
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You believe in that mess?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I kin cure yuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin yuh, Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Yeah."
Nested source context: editorial counterfactual qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
Nested source context: recording representation qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.] - whut to cure it. [The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
partial continuing interview window with context only edges
This passage covers part of a continuing interview; neither the complete interview nor every topic is included.
The opening treatment promise continues the preceding introduction concerning Fletcher Powers on printed page 935; it is included as context only.
The closing John Ham and family dialogue follows the recording-side marker and continues on printed page 940; it is included as context only.
Narrated diagnosis/recovery remains attributed historical claim; no medical findings or effects.
Patient, doctor, family and Lindsay names are local source mentions, not resolved person identity.
Retain recording/cylinder distinctions and Hyatt counterfactual commentary.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 2, p. 935 · Vol. 2, p. 936 · Vol. 2, p. 937 · Vol. 2, p. 938 · Vol. 2, p. 939 · Vol. 2, p. 940