The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-11-15
POSSESSED OF A DEVIL,
no" Uncle PouIpey Felt That lie Had
Been Trifed With,
From Me WuAing,ou .Suu.L,y n,,

Been Trited With.
From he li'ushing'm .Sm,try Post,
;, Mars William! O Mars William
iIease come over to daddy. Come quick
naf' William. 0 lordy uaddy's diving
he I conlured an he'll die afo' we kin ri
Gar. y lordy, what shall do!
looked up. Before me wildly ges,ic
9'ailng in his excitement was q little
darkey. Ills eyes rolled back in hi.
mead till only the whites were visible
"hu tears as large rs marbles strcakinp
the DUST as they plowed down his smuttS
lace. lie vas bare e-headcd, his only
garment pair of enormous trousers
fathers old ones, held up bv q cottor
string passed over his black shoulder
and even this garment think had beer
donned for the present occasion. I had
been swinging in my hammock unde,
Tue shaue OF formosa tree, watching
.he ruoy'throated humming birds az
tney darted bither and thilher among
the crimson fragrant blossoms, listening
70 the sleepy hum of the summers day
and wondering if n southern sun made
one always so lazy and dreamy, when nv
reVerle was suddenly interrupted by the
appearance of this little imp of dark.
ness.
What is the matter with you, Jim
And what is the matter with the old
man Z! said | for l now remembered tc
nave seen the boy before. els YOU,
daddy dead sure cnough?'
lie aint dead, but he's n,o3' dead
case he's conjured. I dcclar' he's diving
O lordy Please come long Mars William
an, git dar' afo' he do die.''
Thinking that the old man had proba
,biy been stricken with harvest collie" ]
hastily caught up flask of spirits and
followed the little fellow across the fields
down by the new ground" and up the
nil to old Uncle Pomp's cabin. Oul
progress has been slow, since Jim was
Obliged to navigate the seat of his trou.
sers very carefully among the roots and
stumps of the "new ground" but upon
nearing the cabin at length, we were
made aware by the commotion that there
was trouble in camp. Pete, Jim's coun.
terpart, was seated upon an upturned
basket holding naked baby in his arms,
which but for the decided animation ii
evinced might have been mistaken for
The original "tar- baby" his head thrown
back, his body swaying to and f7o, and
both bowling like mad dervishes. The
dogs, that ever present part Of the south
ern darkey's family, discovering that
unusual was occurring, had
gathered before the door and set up a
;horous of long drawn howls. 1t was
evident that if Uncle Pomp were not
already dead this music would soon
lnlsh him. AS we entered the cabin
door the old man was lying on his bed,
lis eyes rolled up in his head and gruan.
Dg ns though already in torment. +"
Aunt Dinah, his faithful wife, was at his
'ide rubbing his body with a small black
stone, and praying rs fast as ever she
could.
"Bress de Lord, Doctor, you's come at
ast!' she said. "Come do suppen for
ny old man. Here rs been rubbing
lim wild dis witch charm fur an hour,
out it don't seem to do no good nowise.
Hes conjured an 'twon't do no good. I
vas afeared he would died afo' YOU
could git here"
A very slight examination sufficed TO
how that there was really little or moth
ng the matter with the old man and that
physically he was as we'll as he had been
my time these sixty years. But as he
till continued groaning and rolling his
yes l administered dose of the spirits
which / had brought with me. He ap.
'arently revived little at this and be.
,un to pray most vehemently.
Stop praying a minute, Uncle Pomp,
md tell me what is the matter with YOU"
said, now thoroughly puzzled as well as
But his eye rested upon my
lask and he grew rapidly worse. 1t
equiied no therapeutic knowledge to
perceive the required remedy now, so
poured out liberal dram again and gave
t to the old fellow.
"1s coDjured !! conjured conjured I" he
aid, as he revived under the stimulating
Effects of the ardent. "Yes, Doctor, rs
:onjured. Dat blasted ole witch, niger
'eggy, don't do nothing else but coniure
olks. She Ibis up dar in de woods by
ierself, ieastwise wild nobody else but de
lebil, and jes worrits dis whole country
1id her conjuration, an she's bin gitten'
Vnsser an wusser desc ten year. 10th
sr day she came here an I told her TO
AXE her rotten carcass often my Lam, dat
nebber wanted to see her here no mo-,
did. Den she went out dar to de gate
an she grumble an she mutter, an she
mutter an she grumble, she did, au' pint
her cane an wave her ham; den my ole
oman, dat's my old oman, dar, sir, my
uie oman sho say. any she, she's sccrs.
in an aconjuripg , ou. Den we run in
here an shut an barred de do, an hung
up som mo- horse shoes-you see 'em up
dar now. But ] didn't git in time
nongh as 1 know'd den, nm de charm is
jes' abeginning ter wuk. But if de debil
jes' let me off dis time eff don't 20 fur
dat ole 'oman wusser 'en sick kitten
fur hot brick What make me know
she witch7 Jes' listen ! Aint l seed
what she bin up to desc ten year? An
didn't Brer Nose watch her one night ?
Dat he did. He thought he'd see, so he
went an hid hisself, he did,
"What is you doing ter dat chile,
Pete 2" broke in Aunt Dinah, for while
at my arrival the doga and Pets had
suspended their performance the baby
had never for moment ceased, and was
now fairly waking the echoes with his
howls. Pete was swinging him with
might and main, but the black arms and
legs were flying about in the air in every
possible direction, while he poured out
yell after yell like a young Comanche.
"What you doing ter dat brat, say =?
Don't you hear me7"
II amt doing muffin ter der chile,
mamma; 'clar amt, it's jes' de de5il
in him he's bin akickin' an aclawin' so
as a mule couldn't hol' him."
"You knows you bin doing suppen to
dat chile, you knows you is, jes' fer ter
make him holler. Bring him here TO me.
Now you go take dat hoe an dig dem
afo' / bus yo' ugly black head