Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-09
SOUTHERN SCENES.
"Bab" Finds Summer Pleasures
in the SouthIandS.
IN THE OLD NORFOLK MARKET.
The Artistic Instinct of the Darkey-The
Voudoo Man of the South-He Stays
One of "Eab's' Enemies-The
Advice of Prophet


copyrighted by the Authorl
OK THE WING. Aug. 3.-There IS 4 Ger
tain charm 10 the woman who i wear.ed Of
! the fashionable watering places. VINO i
tired of hearing Miss Nobody quoted As be
| ing of great importance, who has an aching
brain whenever she looks II Nj. Tom Cad
and thinks that he is quoted is the typical
American gentleman, in flying around here
there and everywhere. where the NOoOuES
are ignored and the CadS sink into the OBJ
| livion that IS really theirs That : what
being on the wing meaus-it Is getting
the charm Of one place, and then flying
from there before any OF the diSagreeab!cs
are discovered to some other place. Ii =
seeking green fields and pastures new
every Two or three days
THE SOUTHERN woMAN's PRIDE.
For my own part, | have been up on
heights and down in valleys: have bought
fresh figs in Norfolk; ! have stood in Holly
wood At Richmond, and realized what
Southern women could do when they wanted
TO, as | looked at the monument erected 10
Gen Lee; and, by the by, that monument
IS an honor to the women of the South and
| Il dishonor TO the ones of the North The
Southern women from their mites erected
this TO brave ana noble gentleman, while
the Northern women from their plenty let
| the grave of Gen. Grant grow dishonorcd
and unmarked, unless ii should De by
Clairmont restaurant. The old dArEeys
remark, We done got the monument for
Marsa Bob. now we Will get one Tor Marsa
Grant" IS an exquisite piece Of satire that
ought TO strike home to me heart of every
millionaire in this country who Was on the
same side with Grant during the late IN
pledSantuCSS.
IN A SOUTHERN MARKET.
Did you ever 20 10 the market in Nor
nj nd In ,
1t means getting up about i O'Clock in The
morning and going out into the bright sun
shine 10 see 4 marvellous picture. Old
mammieS with their baudaundS about their
heads guarding piles of beautiful fruit,
fresh figs, red and purple plums, peaches chat
blush because of their sweetness, and pears
that seem to say, Eat me and see what /
dm like" Then there are the queer Old mar
ket wagons, no end of funny little darkeyS
all about who will turn sOmerSaultS for a
penny until you think they are living pin
wheels, and who Will follow You all around
the market calling out your praises if You
beStOw Il silver piece upon them. Then
there are the stalls with the little covers
over them where fresh lunches of mint and
all the savOry stuff from the gardens is sold,
and where, when YOU buy bunch Of any
thing, blushing sweet william, i cluster
of black-eyed susans, OF Il great gorgeous
hollyhOck IS given to you to make il look
pretty i'll your basket
ARTISTIC INSTINCT OF THE DAKFET.
We talk about art in rv-day life: we
haven't half the natural instinct for il that
the cUlOred people have, for they viii lay Il
bunch OF green leaves beside the red ripe
tomatoes; they viii throw a red rose among
the light-brown potatoes, and a bunch Of
yellow flowers is laid beside the let black
berries that they Sell by the bucEetful
The tigs are served III their own leaves, and
il YOU take the boat and sail down tne
james river To Richmond you can imagine
yourself Cleopatra, or one of her slaves, as
you sail close to the Dismal Swamp ard eat
of the fruit in which was hidden the SER
pent that brought death to her.
THE yOUDOo MAN OF THE SOUTH
But you 60 to market for something else.
You go to market to see the Voudoo man
He is in dark corner of the market, and
eyeryb body passing him speaks in i low
tone. He Is awe-inSpiring to look upon; lie
may be 1000 years old. probably lie is, but
he only lays claim to ninety-seven: he is as
black as the ace OF spades and shriyeled 10
a degree that makes you feel that his skin
must be like parchment; on his head he
wears Il curious pointed cap, with Il bright
red rosette and bright yellow one on each
side of it, his hands are curiOusly well
formed the fingers being pointed and the
skin much lighter than that of his face: his
eyes are peering-l can't call them anything
else-he seems to keep the lids half closed,
and to look out from under them rs If he
could read your inmOSt soul. Every darhcy
around flies by him for fear he will cast the
evil eye on them. OStensibIy his business
is fruit selling, but as his stock consists of
a few dried-up apples and some berries that
look as if they might have ripened last year,
nobody believes in the sign of his trade.
lie has to be approached with certain
amount of dignity, and he permits no
scoffing.
HE WILL CONFUSE THINE ENEMIES
l went up TO him, / asked him The price
of the apples, and | held a silver dollar in
my hand SO he could see it. Said he: Lady,
ii isn't apples you want" and. with soem-
nifty, | answered: No. | want something TO
protect me from my enemy" He opened
his eyes wide, and [ suddenly discovered
how large they We're. and then he said in
sort of Il low chant, something between the
way priest intOneS the mass and the way
Quaker speaks in meeting: "Noudoo viii
help you; Voudoo loves the light-haired
people; what do you wish done to your
enemy / had no particular enemy in
mind, so was safe in saying that 1 wished
bad luck would come to him. He got out u
little Old basket, and from it he took bot
tie in which there WAS a red mixture,
strongly suggestive OF weakened carmine;
then he said: Write. with your finger on
the table, the initials of your euemy's
real initials, 50 l wrote, ". \. L." The
Noudoo gentleman stared me in the face,
and said: Those are not the real initials
you do not deceive me, but Il ey shall stand
for her" If You notice, he changed the
sex of my enemy. He then sprinkled some
of the stuff On redisha Eitten
HE TOOK MY LEFT HAND,
laid II on them, and then commenced an in
cantation in an utterly unknown language,
that is unknown to me, over my hand. Then
he told me TO raise it up, and l did. Now,
don't laugh, but il is absolutely true that
the initials. which we're traced in the white
sand on the table, and the red stuff. had en-
tirely disappeared. and my hand was Also
lutely unsoiled. Then he commenced TO
chant again, this time in English, and lie
half sang: With her left hand, the hand
upon which the golden marriage band
CLOVIS, she has driven away her enemy; she
can never hurt her heart, she viii never
dare 10 give her d deceitful kiss, or TO APP
proach the threshold OF her house; her
enemy has fed from before her. and de-
struction will be hers This was very
comforting for everybody wants her enemy,
especially when she is unknown, 10 get
out of the way. However, | thought /
would touch on i more tender topic so drop
ping INTO his method of speaking I said:
oh. great prophet, tell ME of my lover,
how shall keep him. tie burrOwed into
the basket again, and produced something
that looked like child's first tooth, but he
assured me that it was the tooth of female
serpent, and very difficult to procure. He
announced that it would cost 81 but that if