Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-02

bdkluk Tree IlueS. lNby use uelLuCI bu6
horse, the OK nor the ass. They choose
the night time forI their clandestine
trials OF speed. Sambo works hard all
day, goes home tired out at shutdown,
washes his hauds-f he is very particu-
lar, his face-and then sits down to his
rasher of hog meat and his plate of h0mi-
ny. In the centre of his hominy he eXca-
Yates basin and fills it with hot and very
often rancid fat. He has a corn pone,
too, and, If the gods are unusually kind,
a roasted yam or TWO. he eats heartily.
His appetite is good If his digestion is
not. He smokes pipe and goes TO bed.
Mosquitoes buzz around him, but he
hears them not. The cynical flea stakes
out Florida town lots on him, but ne
sleeps on. The travelled sleeve Of
care is being closely knit again. Lord
love him, how he snores. Now is the
witches time. Sambo, still sound asleep,
is saddled and bridled, bitted and spurred.
and ridden all over the country-so he
thinks. The next day comes the after
clap. The cotton is to be chopped out,
the corn to be cultivated. or some other
pleasant pastime OF farming to be in
dulged in. The Colonel sees that Sambo
is almost unfit for labor that morning,
His eyelds are heavy with sand, his
| tongue has a sealskin overcoas on. and he
is inert generally. He looks like the
'What is the matter, Sambo"'
"Done bin rid by dem witches all night,
sab. Pears like is sore all over"
Sambo is unable to grasp the ecoen-
trcities of his liver, and digniies bilious
ness into a witchly tournament. Conse-
quence, or result, rather, a half days
work badly done and a visit to the voudou
doctor or doctreSs, as the case may be.
These latter are supposed to possess the
mn NJ or frbnir in
trade consists largely in the credibility of
their clientage, supplemented by every
thing nasty in the vegetable or animal
kingdom that they can get hold OF. Many
a dollar do they take from the gulltble of
this race, and many a subdued African,
regardless OF age or color, has climbed
the golden stair through their agency.
Whether the law should step in or not is
a mooted question, and depends some
what on the within Of the ruling pOliti-
clan.
Some years ago friend OF mine was
riding out on one of the many pleasant
roads leading from Tallahassee, when he
heard moaning by the wayside. At
first he didn't know whether it was dove
or baby, put he finally concluded it was
the latter. Cautiously dlsmOunting, he
resolved himself into a committee of one
on the state of the country. He found a
arm pits in the soil. 1t was nearly dead.
Hastily dislnterring it, he carried it to
the nearest cabin in sight and found that
it was one OF the family. Asking the
mother the reason Ofthe premature burial,
she explained that the baby was cross
and i'll natured, and that on consulting a
famous voudou doctress in the pelghbor-
hood, tdat preternaturally gifted person
age had assured her the baby had been
pnniIIroH tho nulU rof cd W.
the earth cure. Had my friend come a
little later the cure would no doubt have
been a permanent one.
Such implicit faith do the negroes have
in these voudou priests that when they
have an enemy they go to them either for
a charm against said enemy, or by an in
creased douceur make the latter's wea-
pons Fecoil upon himself. | never got
black enough through two years expert
ence as a carpetbagseT and fifteen years
exposure to this semi3tropical sun to be
admitted to the inner circles of voudou-
ism, yet the book is not altogether a sealed
one to me-, While was earning the in
gratitude of Uncle Sam by serving him
very faithfully in an fmpOrtan Federal
office | had in my employ a Young col
ored man, one of the most intelligent,
brainy, and faithful negroes | ever met.
For week or so he had appeared to be
attention to him, surprising it to be the
usual depression incident on spring. One
afternoon, hOweVery he came to me and
requested leave of absence for half day.
l was a little anxious about him, for he
was a good fellow and rather more trust
worthy than the majority OF his COM
patriots, so | called him into my
office and inquired the nature of his
ailment. He informed me very soemuly
a hQnn md hot
he wanted to go out into the country to
the pharmacy of noted female voudou-
ist to get a remedy. / tried to laugh him
out of it, but in vain. He was q firm be-
liever-roOted IN the faith. OF course l
let him go. He took hot five mile walk
and came back in theevening jubilant. de
brought with him four ounce vial of the
vilest smelling compound. 1t cured him
of the conjuring, however, for he died of
brain fever about three weeks afterward.
The negroes, or some of them, at any
rate, have an idea that the lightning pre-
fers lean man to fat one. The latter
is so naturally greasy that the fluid
rather evades him, not certain OF foot
hold. 1t will pick him up, however, as a
deTnier resort. SO on the approach of
heavy thunder storm the fat Sambo seeks
the society Of his lean kind to give old
electricity the chance of selection. In
old colOred gentleman weighing about $50
pounds. He is President OF the Peanut
Exchange, and has a somewhat remark
able history. In the heyday of his youth
he was married. The first year his wife
presented him with twins. The second
year she saw those twins and went one
better. The third year she again stood
pat with pair. There was a depression
in the peanut market, then, and COM
PLEASANT divorce was the result. No mat
ter what the time, if a thunder storm
comes up, this party OF the first part
seeks some crowded place, believing that
in multitude Of persons there is safety.
He firmly believes that he is safe in the
company of lean men.
The tallsman most in vogue among the
SambOs and Dinahs is the rabbit foot. II
it is the foot OF graveyard rabbit its vir-
tue is above par The pOssessor OF one
of these is much to be envied. 1t brings
luck to its owner, and makes him sue
cessful in love, war and politics. / have
one now that was presented 10 me some
months ago, but the only luck it has
brought me so far is a bole in nv waist
coat pocket, through which an unreceIpt-
ed bill passed into the unbelievable.
HAMILTON JAY.