The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-18

But the children take home a penny's change on top of the head as a matter
 of course, They never carry 1t in the
 hand, A hat, have discovered, is
 used only as a mark of gentility, and
 always goee on the donkey's back"
 The bockra ladys name was Howe.
 She was hospital nurse and her work ana interests lay far away. Overwork
 had broken her down temporarily. and she was recuperating; but the act
 I've brain was ever busy, and Eliza
 beths state could not escape her keen
 trained observation,
 The change was striking; in a few days the girl had turned from a bright active, pretty maid into a worn, hollow eyed creature who seemed wasting to a shadow. There was a constant air of nervous dread; she went about her work with terrified look in her eve. and every footstep caused her to start and cast fearful glances behind. Miss Howe was fairly puzzled.
 What do you suppose can be the natter" she asked after describing the symptoms to one of the Island people.
 From what you tell me-" answered the lady interrogated, "and from what l know of these people, I should rather fancy that the girl was suffering from obeah."
 "Obeah?" said Miss Howe. "What in the world is obeah? It has an un- canny, evil sort of sound"
 You may we'll say that it's the work of the Evil One, I verily believe, and the curse of these islands. It is witchcraft. When one of the negroes has a spite against another, he goes to a wizard or obeah man-there are plen- ty of them, it's profitable profession and hires him to set obeah for his enemy. He puts his charms to work, and when, from certain signs, his vic tins find it out, they simply waste away and die; that's what obeah is They are usually so terrified that it's not necessary to use any but imagin- ary weapons, but if they are too long about dying, the obeah may resort to poison. Ground glass is the common est, but they have a wonderful knowl- edge of herbs and vegetable poisons."
 Do you mean to tell me-" asked her nearer, aghast, that this sort of thing goes on right here in the midst of a civilized community, and that nothing is done to suppress it?'
 "On the contrary, we do everything that we can to suppress it. The obeah men are not only imprisoned, but fog ged by law when they are caught, but
 it's almost impossible to catch one. Nn1n6dy rui1 , the negroes combine to shield them from justice. They go to them for thing-love-charms, to recover lost money, and especially for revenge. There is regular process for the last. The obeah man must first catch a ghost, that of some one lately deceased, as after a month the spirit has gone so far into the other world that it cannot be brought back. So he goes by night to the graveyard, recites an old African charm, and kills a white cock. The smell of the blood revives the ghost the duppy they call it-and brings it up to receive orders. Then he bottles | 1t up in calabash, and buries it in | the ground with three grains of parch- | ed corn until 1t is needed When he wants to work against any one, he digs up the calabash and lets the duppy 1 loose on the victims after he has buried 1 in their neighborhood a small iron pot i filled wth rice, rum, and piece of the l hair or clothing of the victim. The | duppy will finger about the pot and torment the bewitched one"
 q feel my hair standing on end. And l they truly believe all this?"
 Explicitly, every one of them. Even | my good old Jane, my foster-sister who | has grown up with me, has the most | absolute faith in obeah I'll call her in | and make her tell you; though if you 1 were alone, she would deny that such | ] thing exists. ."
 Jane came, a magnificent old woman | n a gorgeous head-handkerchief She l giggled and twisted, but at last squat ed on the floor, rocked backwards and | forwards, and in a hoarse whisper told :ales of oheah. and duppies, and the dreadful rollin' calf, who wanders by night, dragging a long chain, until her nearer felt as if she had unearthed the witch of Endor.
 At all events, there was no doubt hat evil was working against Eliza