LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 349, 26 July 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HOW HAM WAS CURED. ( Concluded .) ‘ThangGord !’ he exclaimed with a fervency which left no doubt of his sincerity, and hastened away. Two or three others followed with a similar result. Then came Mercy, the housemaid, and as her trembling fingers poured the liquid forth, behold the powder changed and turned to black ! The commotion was indescribable, and Mercy was about to have a nervous fit when Dr Rutherford, fixing his eyes on her, said in a tone of command, ‘Be quiet—be perfectly quiet, and in two hours I will destroy the spell. Go over there and sit down.’ She trotted to a seat under one of the trees.

One or two more took their turn, among them Mammy, but the powders remained white. I had entreated Edward not to pronounce her ’witched, because she was old and I loved her so ; I could not bear that she should be frightened. You should have seen her when she found that she was safe. The stiff, old limbs became supple, and the terrified countenance full of joy, and the dear ridiculous old thing threw her arms up in the air, and laughed, and cried, and shouted, and praised God, and knocked off her turban, and burst open her apron-strings, and refused to be removed from the scene of action. The idea of retiring to the seclusion of her cabin while all this was going on was simply preposterous, and Mammy at once exhibited the soothing effect of the suggestion so the play proceeded. More white powders. Then Apollo’s turned black, and, poor fellow ! when it did so, he might have been a god or a demon, or anything else you never saw, for his face looked little like that of a human being, giving you the impression only of wildlyrolling eyeballs, and great white teeth glistening in a ghastly, feeble, almost idiotic grin. Edward went up to him and laid his hand on his shoulder : 1 That’s all right, my boy. We’ll have you straight in no time, and you will be the best man at the shucking tomorrow night.’ More white powders. Then came Wash, great big Wash; and, when his powder changed, what do you suppose he did? Well, he just fainted outright. The remaining powders retaining their color, and Wash havingl been restored to consciousness, Dr .Rutherford directed him to a clump of chinquapin bushes near the “ big gate ” at the entrance of the plantation. There he would find a flat stone. Beneath this stone he would find thirteen grains of moulding corn and some goat’s hair. These he was to bring back with him. Under the first rail near the same gate Mercy would find a dead frog with its eyes torn out, and across the road in the hollow of a stump Apollo was to look for a muskrat’s tail and a weasel’s paw. They went off reluctantly, the entire corps do plantation following, and soon they all came scampering back, trampling down the ox-eyed dasies and jamming each other against the corners of the rail fence, for, sure enough, the witch’s treasures had been found, but not a soul dared to touch them. Dr Rutherford sternly ordered them back, but all hands hung fire, and their countenances evinced resistance of such a stubborn cha' acter that Edward at length volunteered to go with them. Then it was all right, and presently returned the most laughable procession that was ever seen—Wash with his arms at right angles, bearing his grains of moulding grain on a burdock leaf which lie held at as great a distance as the size of the leaf and the length of his arms would admit, his neck craned out, and his eyes so glued to the uncanny corn that he stumbled over every stick and stone that lay in his path ; Mercy next, withludicroussolemnity,bearing her unsightly burden on the end of a corn stalk ; Apollo last, his weasel’s paw and muskrat’s tail deposited in the toe of an old brogan which he had found by the roadside, brown, and wrinkled, and stiff, with a hole in the side, and the ears curled back, and which he had hung by the heel to a long, crooked stick. On they came, the crowd around them following at irregular distances, surging back and forth, advancing or retreating as they were urged by curiosity or repelled by fear. It was now getting dark, so Dr Rutherford, having had the table removed, brought forth three large plates filled with different colored powders. On one he placed Mercy’s frog, on another Wash’s corn, and on the third the muskrat’s tail and weasel’s paw taken from Apollo’s shoe. Then we all waited in silence while with his hands behind him he strode solemnly back and forth in front of the three plates. At length the bees has ceased to hum; the cattle had come home of themselves, and could be heard lowing in the distance; the many shadows had deepened into one ; twilight had faded and darkness come. Then he stood still : ‘ I am the great witch-doctor of Boston ! I will now set fire to those witch’s eggs, and if they burn the flames will scorch her. She will scream and fly away, and it will be a hundred years before another witch appears in this part of the country.’ He applied a match to Apollo’s plate and immediately the whole place was illuminated by a pale blue glare which fell with ghastly effect on the awe-stricken countenances around, while in the distance, apparently near the ‘big gate,’ arose a succession of the most frightful shrieks ever heard or imagined. Then the torch was applied to Mercy’s frog, and forthwith every nook and corner, every leaf and every blade of grass, was bathed in a flood of blood-red light,

while the cries grew, if possible, louder and fiercer. Then came Wash’s corn, which burn d with a poisonous green glare, and Hashed its sickly light over the house and yard and crowd of black faces ; and hardly had this died away when from the direction of the big gate there slowly ascended what a] pcared to be a blood-red ball. ‘ There she goes!’ said the great Dr Rutherford, and we all stood gazing up into the heavens, till at length the thing burst into flames, the sparks died away and no more was to be seen.

* Now, that is the last of her!’ impressively announced the witch-doctor of Boston ; ‘ and neither she nor her sisters will dare come to this country again for the next hundred years. You can all make your minds easy about witches.’ Then came triumph instead of dread, and scorn took the place of fear. There arose a succession of shouts and cheers, laughter and jeers. They patted their knees and shuffled their feet and wagged their heads in derision.

* Hyar ! hyar ! old gal! Done burned up, is you ? Take keer whar you lay yo’ aigs arfer dis !’ advised William Wirt in a loud voice. ‘Go ’long, pizen sass !’ said Martha. * You done lay yo, la’, aig, you is !’ ‘ Hooray tagrag !’ shouted Chesterfield. ‘ Histe yo’ heels ole Mrs Satan,’ cried one. ‘ Youain’t no better’n a free nigger !’ said another. * Yo’ wheel dene sketch for good. Ole skeer-face! hyar ! hyar ! You better not come foolin’ ’long o’ Mas’ Ned’s niggers no mo’ !’ The next night was a gala one, and a merrier set of negroes never sang at a cornshucking, nor did a jollier leader than Wash ever tread the pile, while Mercy sat on a throne of shucks receiving Sambo’s homage, and, unmolested by fear, coyly held a corncob between her teeth as she hung h( r head and bashfully consented that he should come next day to ‘ax Mas’ Ned de liberty of de plantashun.’ * * * * ‘But, Edward,’ said I, ‘why did those three powders turn black ?’ ‘ Because they were calomel, my dear, and it was lime-water that was poured on them,’ said Mr Smith. ‘ Well, but why did not the others turn black too ?’ ‘ Because the others were tartarised antimony.’ ‘ Where did you get what was in the plates, that made the light, you know ?’ ‘ Rutherford had the material. He is going to settle in a small country town, so he provided himself with all sorts of drugs and chemicals before he left Philadelphia.’ ‘But, Edward,’ persisted I, putting my hand over his book to make him stop reading; ‘how came those things where they were found ? and the balloon to ascend just at the proper moment ? and who or what was it screaming so ? Neither you nor Dr Rutherford had left the yard except to go iuto the house. ’ ‘ No, my dear; but you remember Dick Kirby came over just after dinner, and he would not ask any better fun than to fix all that.’ ‘ Humph! ’ said I ; 1 men are not so stupid after all.’ Edward looked more amused that flat* tered, which shows how conceited men are.