The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-10-05
Magical Roots and Herbs.

A house with four gables, each one of
which seemed to lean for consolation
and support against the telegraph poles
that had sprung up beneath them. Win
dows whose long service had appa-
rently deprived them of usefulness, for
their dingy, implanted blinds were
tightly closed and bound with faded
green muslin. A sign, which bore the
legend, Herbs Sold Here" and a row
of dingy window-panes, through which
could be discerned punches of parti-col-
ored leaves, that resembled nothing
more than the war-trOphies of some SAN
culinary Indian who had fought and
bled, but who had conquered his enemy.
Within, in strange contrast with the ac-
emulation of dust, stood young man
whose hair cast n lurid glow over the
piles of boxes that reached the ceiling,
filled, if the labels on them could be
trusted, with cures for every i'll that hui.
man flesh is heir to, as well as a large
variety of others, and with powders and
pOtiOns whose presence in an active
stomach would make death welcome
relief. Across the counter stood a col
ored woman, whose avoirdupois could
only be correctly determined by hay
scales. There was an eager look in her
eyes; and with one hand clutching with
convulsive energy dollar bill, and the
other stretched like a signal-service storm
map on the counter, she whispered in
the most accessible ear of the youth:
"Gimme some Adam and Eve"
1t was done. and the money changed
its owner. The colored woman van
ished amid the thunder of her tread, and
flash of his lurid locks.
A Tribune reporter asked the clerk
what the woman meant. He was en-
lightened as follows:
1--WE have colored men and women
call here every day and ask for adam
and Eve 1t is a root found in New
jersey swamps. and is supposed to
bring the best fortune to its owner. We
charge one dollar for a single root.
Here is one of them" The reporter was
shown a small, light-colored root, re-
sembling in fiber the peanut-roOt. From
slender stem bulged two protuber-
ances of unequal size. 1.-The small
bulb," continued the clerk, sis Adam;
the larger, Eve. Colored people put
the roots in a bottle and then pour a
pint of whisky over them; if they swell
there is luck in them, and they are
cherished for years as their most valua-
BILE possession. l have known negroes
to commit suicide because they had lost
their adam and Eve A cOlored man
came in here few days ago and told
me that he had been to Philadelphia
and that he made over a hundred dol
lars at cards. On his way back on the
train he had got drunk by imbibing the
whisky in his Adam and Eve bottle,
and in fit of frenzy had thrown his
charm away. He said his money was
stolen from him before he arrived in
Jersey City, and he spent week hunt
ing over the tracks of the Pennsylvania
Railway for his lost adam and Evc.'
/ sold him another"
1.-The superstition about the four
leaved clover is well known. We have
them for sale here, and have a good
trade for them. They can be bought
for $5 each. Some persons who have
found a four-leaved clover would, be-
lieve, rather part with their lives than
with their tiny plant, for it brings de-
struction on the fortunes of man if he
loses his quatrefoil.
There is root that is known among
colored people as the .dead-root. 1t is
very small, shaped somewhat like a car
rot, but forked. The more forks 1t has
the more powerful it is. The peculiar
virtue of THE 'dead-root' is that it not
alone prevents death by violence, but
drives away the evil spirits that are sup