The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-08-30

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A PRECoCIoUs BLACK BOY.
only to the knees Of his very black legs
which were bowed like animated paren.
theses He wore a thin cotton waist
to which his brooches were buttoned.
One sleeve was gone entirely, and the
other was fringed off at the elbow.
His hair was kinked close to his skull,
and his little black eyes shone with a
berpentine glitter. His teeth were
pure ivory, and his toes were like the
fippers of a Mississippi river mud tur-
tie. He stood on the curbstone hurl-
Ing contemptuous remarks and insults
at the driver of the ice wagon. The
driver endured it to the point beyond
which patience ceases to be a virtue
Then he turned in his seat and said:
''Oh, its you, is it? You're fine
looking little boy, and / guess I'll just
take you along. The night doctor told
me"
Nobody knows what the night doctor
told him, for at the mention of that
dreaded parsonage the small boy of
African descent turned with a wild
Shrek and scurried off as fast as his
bowed legs would let him.
might doctor" is a term to con lure
with. AS threat it is far more efiicacious
than the ''gobbleens" or the ''bogie
man." or any other of the terrible crea-
lures called up to brighten naughty
boys and girls And it isn't the chill
dren only who fear him. There's
scarcely negro in Washington who,
deep in his heart, isn't afraid of the
might doctor" And night doctor is
something that people in many parts
imagined.
Somehow and at some time the i'm
preston was made upon the minds of the
negroes of this city that every physician
takes especial delight in cutting people
up lie performs operations just for the
fun of carving his helpless victims, and
spends all his leisure time in dissecting
dead bodies. How does he get them?
Why, after dark he drives about the
town, and when he meets an unpro-
tected negro he snatches him up and
carries him of That is the dreaded
might doctor" and that is what be-
comes OF all the colored people who
mysteriously disappear. That is the
negro theory.
Very many of our colored folks know
no law. They suffer the inconvenience
of ignorance entailed by an unfor-
tunate ancestry. The ties of marriage
and Of consanguinity are very often
carelessly severed. Negro husbands or
fathers may hear that work can be had |
for the asking. in Pittsburgh, New |
York or some other city, and they start |
on foot or on freight ears, without go- |
ing TO their homes, or sending word |
that they are going away from the city. |
They cannot write letters, and their |
families and friends only know that they |
were in good health, but have disap- /
pearcd. The only conclusion left to |
their friends is that some night doc /
tor" has taken them unawares, carried |
them of and dissected them.
'Law. honey said an old nanny,
one of the genuine, rare, ante-bellum
a few of whom are still to be
black folks. THY wants us TO cut up,
bat they don't keer for us-and the
night doctors, It's awful the things
they do TO folks. / dom want nothin'
10 DO with these yere doctors. l tell
yoa. l kin cure whatever sits the
natter with my family, and I've taken
cad of sickness off many q quality
am1y, too. Yes, indeed. chile. L
io'n want none OF these yere doctors
,uttin' me up, an unless the night doc
ors gifts me l amt goin' TO have nothin'
G do with no doctors neither"
She can cure: what is there she
lasnt remedy for? And doubtless
low and then she is quite as likely to
1t upon the right remedy as any
nan with NJ. ID. after his name and |
rsmcd certificate of graduation hang
ng on his office wall. She knows all
here is to be known about those mys-
er:ous things-ba bies; and of all the
,aLies she has welcomed on their first
pIearance in this world of woe not |
ne but has been put through the
curse she firmly believes in Every
ne of them was held towards the cell
ng before it was laid down, and every
ne had its clothes put on every morn
ng over its feet, and not over its
cad, in order that it might go up
nd not down in the world.
Whec the luckless infant is fort
light or perhaps month old, NANNY
avs. stems must be taken TO secure for
pure blood and a good complexion.
. this end, small fiy blister must be
,plied back of each ear and sore
'rmcd. This must not be allowed TO
cal, but must be made TO run" till,
the Judgment of the nurse, all the
npurity il the little victims blood |
rs passed ont, when little vaseline
cold cream must be used 10 heal the
lister. This. nanny declares, was {
,ne to all the quality" children in Y
ose strange days before the war. 6
bus, it will appear, the colored infant 8