Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-10-19

O"It will be hard g most North.
erners to understasd chat. said q
Southerner, who poiuzed out brief
news despatch telling OF the arres.
of negro burglars bysthe police and
explaining that their Extraordinary
boldness was due totheir confidence
in the hodoo bags which they wore
and for which they had paid as much
as &125 each.
But" he went o.. st is easily
comprehensive to these who know
the negroes. A very large part Of
the fight for the belterment of the
negro had to be mA5s against his
blind superstitions. % which he
holds IS nrmly as hstISs ii t'ie old
slavery days. -
Indeed. there is very much more
of it now than there used TO be, be-
cause the smart negroes, especially
the so-called doctors. play heavi-
ly upon the credulity of the less in
telligent of their race and multiply
the charms and the things which
they sell. The doctor In the Flo
rida case made a small fortune by
the sale OF the hoodoo bags. This is
not a single or an exceptional case.
THE negro doctors who -four
ish best do not deal in criminal hoo
docs, but play safely upon the affec-
tions and love aspirations OF their
race. The sale of love powders for
instance is large source OF income
to thousands of the doctors They
always charge good prices, and the
colored men and women who buy
them will not complain il the little
doses of -four fail to produce the
expected results. The doctors can
not be prosecuted, simply because
they have no accusers. Then there
are the good luck charms and the
health charms and the thousand and
one mixtures of herbs which will
cure strange diseases. Indeed,
there is scarcely a town or village
between Mason and Dixon s line and
the Gulf OF Mexico that has not its
herb doctor and it's professional in
terpreter of superstitions.
'One thing that cannot be eradi-
Gated from the negro in this genera
tion at least is his fear of graveyards
and houses in which supposed crimes
have been committed. I recall 60
ing hunting with o negro who had
belonged to my family. We were
very late getting home on account of
the tides and the wind. At a bend
of the river we could have made a
half mile, but Bob insisted on keep
ing close to the further shore, and
in reply to questions he said he was
afraid of the 'ha a'nts. Argument
made him admit that ghosts did not
exist or that if they did they were
harmless, but nevertheless he want
ed to keep away from dead people.
Every old negro will tell you of the
'ha a'nts' he sees when he walks too
close to graveyard.
I'VE have in our family today a
negress OF intelligence. One OF the
children she nursed has become a
leading surgeon. The old woman
became ill, and the surgeon. being
very fond of her, went ahead and
made arrangements for taking care
of her in the finest hospital in the
largest Southern city. He explain
ed that he himself would perform the
operation and that she would have q
private room.
When the hospital ambulance
came for her we found her door
locked and heard her in an agony Of
prayer within. She clung to the
skirts of my wife and promised to be
ber slave forever If only we would
save her from the hospital. She be-
lieved firmly that hospitals were
places where they cut colored peo-
pie up on the disseeting table, and
the surgeon has never been able TO
try his skill upon her. Some Of
these colored people believe that If
a surgeon operates upon them they
will not be able to take whole soul
to heaven. They think he may cut