During week days, with many persons away at work in other sections of the city, it is mostly the old who are found at home. Grandmothers and grandfathers "mind" the small children while the mothers work out.
One old woman 1Anna Miller had lived her youth on Butler Island plantation, where some of the older workers had occupied the same cabins given to them before emancipation.
1aSebral ub dem hans wuz bery ole people, said Anna Miller. Dey speak a funny language an none ub duh res ub us couldn hahdly unuhstan a wud dey say. Dey hab special name fuh all kine uh ting, but duh only ting I kin membuh is dat dey call a watuh bucket, a 'juba haltuh'.
We found here, too, that in certain households certain foods are considered to bring bad luck
2aI dohn eat peanuts, 2Millie McKen, told us, an I dohn let a soul in muh fambly eat em.
Can you tell us why?, we queried, but she only shook her head.
2bAll I know is dat dey's bad luck. I foun dat out, an I wohn leh one come in muh house.
Handicraft objects in this section were more numerous than in many of the other communities. We found a most unusual 3Brush made from the palmetto. It was about four inches in length and two inches wide; both bristles and back had been made from a single piece of the rough fiber of the palmetto bark, spliced into splinters on one surface to form the bristles.
The work of two wood carvers was brought to our attention. One of the 4carvers made a specialty of small wooden figures. He showed us several full length human figures, two or three busts mounted on square blocks of wood, and two oddly shaped objects, weach with mask-life features carved on one surface. When we remarked on the originality of his work and its symmetry of design he said simply 4aI jis picked it up wen I wuzn wukin.
The other 5carver had made several nondescript figures, but we were chiefly interested in two linked wooden chains. One of these, which had an attached box with a ball enclosed, was similar to a chain previously shown us by another man in the community. Each man had cut his chain with all its details from a single block of wood.
In Frogtown and Currytown there is intense interest shown in witches, spirits, and conjure. Personal experiences were related to us by several old residents, who had come in contact with supernatural elements.
6Old Henry Gamble told us that he has been accustomed to 6aseein tings since childhood. Particularly on rainy nights ghosts appear to him. He said, Sometimes dey float right at muh side. Ise use tuh um now an it's jis lak natchul people tuh me. Yuh kin skeah witches an ghos ef yuh make a cross mahk. Dis will stop um frum followin yuh
Seventy-five year old 7Henry Bates readily acknowledged a belief in the supernatural. 7aI done seen all kine ub strange ting happen in muh lifetime. Yuh wahn me tuh tell yuh bout some uh dem ting, missus?
7bOne night I finished eatin dinnuh. Den I walk tuh duh kitchen doe. I see a strange man comin down duh road; he wuz twenty yahds away. I tun muh head tuh look in duh house and wen uh look back he done disappeahed. I know he mustuh been a ghos.
7cAnudduh time I heah a knock on duh doe. I heah it tree times. Bam! Bam! Bam!. Wen muh dog heah dat knock, he holluh lak he wuz sked tuh det. I git up an go tuh duh doe an muh haiah riz up on muh head. Wen uh gits tuh duh doe, uh see sumpm as big as a cow, only it look lak a dog. Den it vanish lak a shadduh.
7dOne night muh wife an me git ready tuh go tuh bed. We fasten duh doe an winduh. Attuh a time we heah a noise. Den we hear a click. Duh winduh come open mis lak somebody open it. I strike a match an uh see a big yulluh cat walkin long side duh bed. It hab a face jis lak a pusson. It go right out duh winduh.
7eI fine out latuh dat duh cat wuz a witch. Witches is jis livin people wut bin sole tuh duh debil. Lots uh nights I kin feel em ridin me. Jis duh udduh day I was sittin in a cheah an I dozed off tuh sleep. All at once a hag jump on me an staht ridin me.
7fWen I wuz a boy I heah lots uh stories bout people flyin. Some folks brung obuh frum Africa could fly off aw dissapeah anytime dey wanted tuh. I alluz belieb dat story. I know folks right now dat kin make duh spirits uh dead people come back.
7gWen I wuz jis growin up I knowd a boy dat hab a strange powuh. Eben ef he wuzn wid duh udduh boys he could tell each one wut he bin doin. One day attuh we grown up, he say dat he could bring back folks dat hab lef town an gone away.
7gNow deah wuz a uhmun whose huzbun hab lef uh. Dis uhmun wuz jis frettin uhsef tuh det. Muh frien go tuh uh an say 'I will cause yuh huzbun tuh come back tuh yuh. I will chahge yuh ten dolluhs. Yun needn pay me till he come back but ef yuh dohn pay me den, he wohn stay.'
7hIn a week's time duh uhmun's huzbun wuz back. He stay home till he die. Duh uhmun pay muh frien in piece payments till she pay im duh ten dolluhs.
Living in a dirt lane on the fringe of Currytown is 8Chloe West who was born at White Bluff and cannot remember he exact age. She told us that she frequently sees ghosts and that a spirit warns her when anything out of the ordinary is about to happen.
8aOne time I wuz; bodduhed by duh folks nex doe wut wuz tryin tuh cunjuh me. Somebody tell me tuh git some hot watuh an tro it wen I heah duh noise. Jis as I git duh watuh hot, duh spirit ub a wite uhmun I use tuh wuk fuh peahed and tell me pray an duh witches would go way. Attuh she spoke, duh witches went out an nebuh did bodduh me since. Duh witches wuz two men. One ub um went crazy an duh poeleece foun duh udduh one out in duh woods. He died in duh po house.
8bOne night I heah a noise at muh winduh. A voice say, 'Chloe, dohn go neah duh winduh'. I stop a minute, den uh go tuh duh winduh. Some kine uh powduh wuz trone in muh face dat bline me. Den duh voice tell me tuh wash muh face quick in karisene. I do dat an duh blineness leab me.
8cAnudduh time duh uhmun wut lib nex doe want me tuh moob and she git a cunjuh bag and bury it unduh muh step. Duh spirit wahn me agen an tell me a man would fine duh cunjuh fuh me. Duh nex day Doctuh Johnson, a root man come by. He say sumpm wuz laid down fuh me an he would take it up fuh fifty cent. I paid him duh money. He come back dat night, dig unduh muh steps, an take out a bunl. It hab some dut an some haiah an sulphuh in it. Doctuh Johnson say it wuz grabe yahd dut. Bin a long time since I bin bodduhed but uh sho belieb in all dem tings.
8dDuh fus time I ebuh see ghos wuz long yeahs back. Once wen I wuz young an receivin compny, deah wuz two men comin tuh see me. I lak one man duh bes and duh udduh man wuz jealous. Well, duh jealous man die. Aftuh dat many a time uh see a shadduh lak him come right up tuh muh doe and disappeah. One night he come, stretch he ahm cross duh doe, and say jis as plain as anyting in a big loud voice, "Is dat udduh man still comin roun yuh?' I wuz sked stiff.
9D.C. Kelsey who has been blind for six years told us that conjure had caused the loss of his sight.
9aAn I ain had duh money tuh git nobody tuh tun dis ting back on duh one dat put it on me, he complained.
He looked pleased when a piece of money was placed in his hand. When we asked why he blew on the coin, he smiled slowly.9bDat make mo luck. It'll hep me tuh git mo. Yuh know, a root man, he wohn take money out yuh ban. He tell yuh tuh put it on duh table aw duh shef.
We encouraged him to continue on the subject of root men.
9cDey kin fix yuh wid mos anyting, Kelsey said. Duh chinch bug is use a lot an Ise sked ub em. I wouldn put muh han on dem ting fuh ten dolluhs. I hab a sistuh name Ida Walker wut wuz fix wid candy. She ate duh candy an den uh ahm swell up an tun blue. Yuh could see lill animals runnin up an down uh ahm. She got a root doctuh name Sherman. Soons he look at it, he know wut it wuz. He come Toosday an he gie uh a rub tuh use, and he say tuh rub down and he would come back Friday. Wen he come, duh tings all done come intuh duh finguhs. He tuk a basin wid some wome watuh, and he put muh sistuh han in it. Den he ketch hol uh duh han an duh tings run out in duh watuh. Dey wuz puppy dogs.
9dHe ax uh did she want em tuh go back weah dey come frum, an she say yes. So he say he know duh man wut sen em, an he went tuh duh winduh an tro duh watuh wid duh puppy dogs in it in duh direction uh duh man house an say, 'Go'. One week latuh duh man wuz in he fiel ploughin an he drop duh plough an fall down. Wen duh people git tuh im, all he could say wuz, 'Diz is my wuk. Dis is my wuk.' He went plumb crazy an died, but muh sistuh got well an fine. She lib neah Millen now.