The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-01-11
ABOUT WATER WITCHES.
SMALL PEACH TREE BRANCHES USED
AS OWNING RODS.

The Forked Branch the First Care of It's
Owner-Doo Wise, the Best Known Water
witch-How He Struck Luck and Became
Independently Rich.
to the extraordinary results obtained by
the use of the divining rod in finding
| water and mineral deposits have had no
| moro interested or appreciativc readers
| than the people III the mountain ranges
of the Blue Ridge and Cumberland.
The doings of the water witches have
been part of the life of these people fur
ther back than any one can remember.
| 1t is not every community that can boast
| the possession of one of these gifted per-
| sons. The respect in which they are
held is in inverse ratio to their numbers.
Families willingly deprive themselves Of
comforts in order to provide them for
the water witches. In return they cx-
pect services IN i1cating wells. If it may
not be quite true that every we'll in the
mountains was located through this kind
of agency, there is no doubt that the
majority were SO located, and that the
faith of the people in the mystic power
VI tlic "llIIIcS 10
\ SIMPLE COMMUNITY.
So far as the natives are concerned
this is Il country of poverty. They do
not call themselves poor, for all are
nearly on an equality in the bare furnish
ingS CT ,hcir houses, and the shoteS that
they raise on lhc iAca forage of the woods
in summer and fall, with ,Ic CON, hom-
iny, tobacco and moon,hinc they can
| lay up by small trading with the valley
| farmers, supply their modest winter
needs. Money Is Il thing tat enters very
| little into their calculations. \ mountain
| community enjoys more than average
prosperity, in which the cash earnings of
| the heads of the families reach as much
as $50 per year apiece. But all being on
about the Same basis there j. no compara-
| tive poverty. They get along from year
| to yca4, uEl never having known any
| other condition uIcy .Irc content.
AS a matter OF course, they caLnot re-
paw the services of the water witches
| with cash. The most they can do is TO
| make them comfortable. This is salts
| factory all around. IN some way tho
| impression has become general that
water witcn Is supernatural sort Of
| creature, not made for common toll, and
whose magic will DC impaired by the
kind of labor dat ordinary mortal5 en-
durc. AS witches are 100 scarce to be
spared, they receive very good care, and
as they are endowed along with thciI
| mystical gifts with the natural Incidence
| Of the mOuutaiuccr nature, they are ex-
| pcctcd and are entirely willing to save
Il
| required of them by those who bring
| them yearly ,riLu'cs Of stores. The
| witches thus get no iICncr lhan their
heighbors, but they have an easier timo
of it, Sometimes, months will pass in
which one will not be called upon.
| Whenever a call is made, however, he
flust be ready to respond to it.
a forkcd branch of peach tree is tho
only divining rod known in tho noun
tains. Every witch is as careful of his
branch as If 1T were genuine treasure.
| tie selects 1T when he begins to practice
his magic. and acTcr changes IL willingly.
| When not i'll uso it is carefully hung on
the walls Of the best room in his cabin.
Whatever else may happen, that must
not be disturbed. 1t would 10 the first
thing to be saved if his cabin caught fire.
Afterward he might go back for the wife
and babies. On every trip he carries It
out Of reach Of the brush and rock that
may line his pathway, and his mission
| ended he returns it as carefully to its
| hanging place in the cabins best room.
Whether from his own belief that he j.
gifted beyond meL, or because of the
awe in which he is held by ms fellows