Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-11
FOLK LORE OF THE SOUTH.
Some SuperstitiOns Current in That
Section of the Country.

| From Modern Culture.
During a recent visit to North Carolina
| after a long absence, L took occasion to
! inquire into the latter-day prevalence of
| the old-time belief in what was known as
COMPUTATION" or gopher" my childish
| recollection Of which l have elsewhere en-
| bodied into a number of stories. The de-
| rivation of the word "goopher' 1 do not
| know, nor whether any other writer than
| myself has recognized its existence, though
| it is in frequent use in certain parts of
| the south. The origin of this curious su-
persttion itself is perhaps more easily
| traceable. 1t probably grew, in the first
place. out, of African fetichisrl, which was
brought over from the dark continent along
with the dark people. Certain features,
too, suggest a distant affinity with voodoo-
ism, or snake worship, a cult which seems
to have been indigenous to tropical Amer
lea These beliefs, which in the place of
( their origin had all the sanctions of religion
and social custom, became, in the shadow
of the white mans civilization, a pale re-
Election of their former selves. In time, too
they were mingled and confused with the
witchcraft and ghost lore of the white
man, and the tricks and decisions of the
Indian conjurer. In the old plantation days
they hourished vigorously. though discour-
aged by the great house." and their po-
tency was well established among the
blacks and the poorer whites. Education
however, has thrown the ban of disrepute
upon witchcraft and conjuration. The
stern frown of the preacher, who looks upon
superstition the ally of the Evil One;
the Scornful Sneer of the teacher who sees
in it a part of the livery of bondage, have
driven this quaint combination of ances-
trail traditions to the remote chimney cor
ners of old black auntieS, from which il is
difficult for the stranger to unearth them.
Mr.. Harris in his Uncle Remus" stories,
has, with fine literary discrimination, col
lected and put into pleasing and enduring
! form the plantation stories which dealt
with animal lore, but little attention has
been paid to those dealing with so-called
conjuration that they seem in a fair way
to disappear, without leaving a trace be-
hind. The loss may not be very great,
but these vanishing traditions might fur
nSh valuable data for the sociologist in
the future study of racial development. In
writing. few years ago, the volume en-
titled 1.-THE Conjure Woman" / suspect
that I was more Influenced by the literary
value of the material than by it's sociology
cal bearing, and therefore took, or thought
I did, considerable liberty with my SUBJ
ject Imagination, however, can only act
upon data-one must have somewhere in
his consciousness the ideas which he puts
together to form a connected whole. Gre
alive talent, of whatever grade, is, in the
last analysis, only the power of rearrange-
ment-there is nothing new under the sun
1 was the more firmly impressed with this
thought after 1 had interviewed half a
dozen old women and genuine "conjure
doctor" for l discovered that the brilliant
touches. que, L nau thought TO my own
Imagination, were after all but dormant
ideas, lodged in my childish mind by old
Aunt This and old Uncle That, and await
ing only the spur of imagination to bring
them again to the surface. For instance.
in the story, "Hot-Foot Hannibal" there
figures a conjure doll with pepper feet.
Those pepper feet I regarded as peculiarly
my own, a purely original creation. i
heard, only the other day, in North Caro-
lima, of the CONSERVATION struck to the
heart of a certain dark individual upon
finding upon his doorstep a rabbits foot
a good omen in itself perhaps-to which
malign influence had been impaired by ty-
ing to end of it, in the form of a cross
two small pods of red pepper!
Most of the decisions connected with
this belief in COMPUTATION grow out of mere
lack of enlightenment. AS primeval men
saw a personality behind every natural
phenomenon, and found a god a devil in
wind rain and hail, in lightning and in
storm, so the untaught man or woman who
is assailed by an unusual ache or pain,
some strenuous symptom of serious phys
iscal disorder is prompt to accept the sug-
gestion, which tradition approves, that
some evil influence is behind his discom-
fort and what more natural than to con-
clude that some rival in business or in love
has set this force in motion?