Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1895-09-10

a SlsECOCIOUS BLACK BOY,
only to the knees of his very black legs
which We're bowed like animated paren-
theses. He wore Il thin cotton waist
to which his breeches were buttoned,
One sleeve was gone entirely, and the
other was fringcd off at the elbow.
His hair was lSinleed close to his skull,
and his little black eyes shone with
serpcntinc glitter. His teeth were
pure ivory, and his toes We're like the
tiippers of Mississippi river mud tur-
tie. He stood on the curbstone hurl-
ing contcmptuous remarks and insults
at tho driver of the ice wagon. The
driver endured it to the point beyond
which patience ceases to be virtue.
Then he turned in his scat and said:
"Oh, it's 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 wild
Shrek and scurried off as fast as his
bowed legs would let him.
''Night doctor" is term to coniure
with. Asa threat it is far more efficacious
than the "gobblecns" 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
drcn only who fear him. There's
scarcely u negro in Washington who,
deep in his heart, isn't afraid of the
might DOCTOR" And a night doctor is
something that people in many parts
of our country never heard of nor
imagined.
Somehow and at some time the inn
precision was made upon the minds of the
negroes of this city thatevery physician
takes: especiui delight in emitting 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 docs he get them?
Why, after dark he drives about the
town, and when he meets AN unpro-
tcctcd negro he snatchcs him up and
carries him Off. 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 colorcd folks know
no law. They suffer the inconvenience
of ignorance entuilcd by an unfor-
tunatc ancestry The ties of marriage
and of consanguinity arc 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 cars, without 60
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, bat have disap-
peared. The only conclusion left to
their friends is that some might doc
tor" has taken them unawares, carried
them off and disscctcd them.
Law, honey" suid an old nanny,
one of the genuine, rare, ante-bellum
mammics, few of whom are still to be
found, doctors don't lleer for us poor
black folks. They wants us to cut up,
but they don't kecr for us-and the
night doctors! It's awful the things
they do to folks. dom want nothin'
to do with these ycre doctors, l tell
you. kin cure whatever gifts the
matter with my family, and I've taken a
load of sickness Off many quality
family, too. Yes, indeed, chile. 1
dom want none of these yere doctors
cuttin' mcup, an unless the night doc
tors gifts me amt goin to have nothin'
to do with no doctors neither"
She can cure; what is there she
hasn't a remedy for? And doubtless
now and then she is quite as likely to
hit upon the right remedy as any
man with NJ. D. after his name and a
framed certificate of graduation hang
ing on his office wall. She knows all
there is to be known about those mys-
terions things-babies; and of all the
babies she has welcomed on their first
appearance in this world of woe not
one but has been put through the
course she firmly believes in. Every
one of them was held towards the cell
ing before it was laid down, and every
one had its clothes put on every morn
ing over its feet, and not over it's
and not down in the world.
When the luclslcss infant is a fort
night or perhaps month old, NANNY
saws. stcns must he taken to secure for
1T pure blood and a good complexion.
To this end, small fly blister must be
applied back of each ear and sore
formed. This must not be allowed to
heal, but must DC made to rum till.
in the Judgment of the nurse, ali the
impurity in the little victims blood
has passed out, when little vaseline
or cold cream must be used to heal the
blister. This, nanny declares, was
done to all the quality" children in
those strange days before the war.
Thus, it will appear, the colored infant
does not commence life in a bed of
roses; but usually in bed made of old
clothes, rags. and straw. They have