Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-12-25

| WOIk Jd'ICs OCliVfSull "'iOit AAttAN
Cynthia lay with with distended eyes and
ulickened breath; over the frightened ne
groes who had assembled to see Uncle
/ lube s'k,lnjur;'' and over Uncle Jube him.
self, the conjuror He was a lean, lank
negro, about seventy-five years old, with
small black eyes and yellow eye-balls: with
a toothless mouth, and grizzly wool comb
! eb straight mp from the back OF Ills neck
and ears in pyr,mdal shape, till at len4th
| it formed IL clearly define peak. The col
| lar of his tan-colored wooden coat rose
above his ears, and the tails thereof dang
(: led about his heels, and across the breast
of his yellnW cotton shirt he wore string
of charms composed of hogs teeth an
| lizards feet and other attractive Speci
| mems Of natural history. while one little
snake lay coled around Ills wrist. and au-
i other made itself unpleasanfiy conspicuous
| by dropping every now and then to The
floor. On the threshold lay a black chiahef'
with its neck wrung, and b fore ilttle
pine table sat Uncle Jube (who should
! have had his neck wrung also.) At hisrigiit
{ H0Itu. VII Uilc UdNlG. SUt'Ou SIttNS NCFH
/ filled with blood; on the left one filled will
water; and between them crawled labori-
Ously an immense black beetle. Present.
| ly the thing reared itself on it's hind legs
against the vessel of water, but being uIl.
able to retain its hold, slipped down and
crawled towards the glass Of blood, when
Uncle Jube exclaimed sternly: ''Shet 20
eyes!'
Aunt Cynthy closed her eyes, and he Sc:
fire to something under the table filling
the cabin with fumes Of sulphur while the
pine torches smoked and fumed and his
weird figure looked weirtler still in the red
uncertain glare, and the crowd of black
faces appeared grotesq4ey solemn in the
shifting light and shadow. He bent down.
fixed his eyes Oh Il corner of the cabin. and
seemed to listen. Silence, dead silence.
He put his hand to his ear, and We held
our breath, till he suddenly shouted Il
wild ''yah hool" which gave us all nervous
shock, and caused some of the audience
to spring uD in the air. Il knowe,l it, /
knowed it, muttered Uncle .juba. ''Some-
cody is washed your close, aint dry?"
eyes, sir, when I was sick" sad Aunt
Cynthia.
''HOw long ago were dat?"
'Tnree weeks com SADLY
GLOW many pieces were day."
"Nine."
''An' you been a perishin eber since"
II was sick, an Amt nebher got we'll. >
"Taint same SICK Dat gal had q spite
gin you, an she iunned your close wild !.
red-hot Jun fore cher she put EN- i'll the
suds.7'
''Lord lord!" groaned Aunt Cynthia,
and Lord! lord! echoed her friends IN
subdued tones; and 10 wonder they did,
for it must be a terrible thing to have
your clothes ironed with a red-h0t iron.
>'She was tall brown DOM M" said
Uncle Jube.
''No she warn't; she were chunky yell
l;tr gal, said Aunt Cynthia.
''Dats jes what 1 say-a chunkey Yale,
GAL came for 'em but u tall brown CONAN
sent her," said Uncle Jube, angrily.
"Her name was Sary Ja"e," said Aunt
SyuGiids ttLltttty.
"Warn't / jes gWine to say how her
name was Sary jane? It don take You
to tell me dat. I don't want no more O.
your jaw"
Uncle Jube spoke severely, being unde
niably disconnected by his little mistake
about the tall brown woman. In fact the
severity of his succeeding sentence wa,
no doubt due in q great measure to d feel
ing Of modification and resentment Ill
connection with it.
''You say how dare was nine pieces.
Very we'll. You amt got to eat but nine
mouffuls a day tell de nine weeks is out
since she took 'em, an dat won't be tell
mex SADLY four weeks. Durin' Of dat
time you got to find de gal AMI make her
drink nine drops O. black cats blood; an
ceppin you do dat, you gwine to die nine
hours by sun de day de nine weeks is out.
certin.''
Nobody wouldn't dar to kill bick
cat, - said the old woman, hopelessly; IAN
de gal wouldn't eat none O. it's blood eff
dey did,"
Don't I know better'n to talk bru;
KILN black cat, niger? Can't you git
de blood outen her tail d tut KILN of her?
An you got to 'tice de gal frenzy like, an'
Civ it to her in lasses or coffee. Or spch
like. Course she amt gwine to Eat it #
she knows it,
Saying this, he dipped the beetle in tie
YES sci of blood, and setting him down, left
him to wander about. Presently he stopped,
and Uncle ,Juba exclaimed. Oar! He look
IN wrs'. D. gal gone wes'.''
That is north Uncle said l. But as
conjuror Uncle Jube WAS my superior, and
obliviols to the claims If position. so he
regarded my suggestion with liet con-
tempt, and shutting up his beetle in glass
jar, told them to hunt toward the west,
and warned them not to eat the chicken
taG lay on the thresh I'D; San mt to let
muffin else ct hold Of it dat dey keered
bout livin'. -
Before noon the next Il W A unit Cyntha's
cabin and the adjacent yard were crowded
with negr oes, come to see the woman who
was ''witched.: They came from the town
and they came from the country; they
came from the east and they came frem
the west; they rose up ont of the gullies
and seemed born Of the corn fields; every
foot of earth seemed to have sent its repre-
sentative, and every mistress must have
been despoiled of her dnnlpstics.
|. | had DR.. Clayton several times to see
her, and he declared she had no organic
disease whatever, but that she was surely
DIVING from starvation and the ilfll1nucn IF