The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-09-06

SAzssss
A PRECoCIoUs BLACK BOZ.
only 70 the knees Of his very black legs
which were bowed like animated paren-
theses. He wore q thin cotton waist
to which his breeches 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
serpentine glitter. His teeth were
pure ivory, and his toes were like the
clippers 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 il 20 the point beyond
which patience ceases to be virtue.
Then he turned in his seat and said:
''Oh, it's you, Is it? You're a fine
looking little boy, and guess I'll Just
take you along. The night doctor told
NE"
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 term TO conjure
with. AS threat it is far more efficacious
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
irea only who fear him. There's
scarcely a 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 i'm
preston was made upon the minds of the
negroes Of this city that every physician
takes especial delight in cutting people
up. He 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 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 colo-ed 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
COR the asking in Pittsburgh, New
York or some other city, and they start
on foot or on freight cars, 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
we're in good health, but have disap-
peared. 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
few of whom are still to be
found. doctors don't keer for US poor
black folks. They wants US to cut up,
but they don't keer for us-and the
night doctors. It's awful the things
they do to folks 1 dom want nothin' |
10 do with these yere doctors, tell |
you. l kin cure whatever gifts the |
matter with my family, and I've takena |
.oad of sickness off many a quality |
family, too. Yes, indeed, chile. I |
DON want none of these yere doctors |
,uttin' me up, an unless the night doc
tors gifts me amt goin' to have nothin'
20 do with no doctors neither"
She can cure; what is there she
hasn't a remedy for? And doubtless
low and then she is quite as likely to
lit upon the right remedy as any
nan with NJ. D. after his name and a
tramed certificate of graduation hang
ng on his office wall. She knows all |
here is TO be known about those mys-
erious things-babies: and of all the
1abies she has welcomed on their first
appearance in this world OF woe not
,ne but has been put through the
course she firmly believes in. Every
,ne OF them was held towards the cell
NJ before j. was laid down. and every
'ne hae ia clothes put on every NOM
ng over its feet, and not over its
lead, IN order that it might go up
md not down in the world.
When the luckless infant Is a fort
light or perhaps month old, nanny
avs, steps must be taken 70 secure for
/ pure blood and a good complexion.
% this end, small fiy blister must be
tpplied back of each ear and a sore
ormed. This must not be allowed to
zeal, but must be made to run" till,
q the Judgment of the nurse, all the
mpurity in the little victims blood
las passed out, when little vaseline
T cold cream must be used to heal the
lister. This. nanny declares, was
one 70 all the quality" children in
hose strange days before the war.
nus, It will appear, the colored infant
Oes not commence life in a bed Of
oses; but usually in bed made of old
lothes, rags and straw. They have