The Conjure Woman

animal bizness en w’en he had tu’nt back fum de bull-frog had runned ’way on his own ’sponsibility, lak she ’vised ’im at fus’. So Aun’ Peggy went on ’bout her own bizness en didn’ paid no mo’ tention ter Tobe.

“Ez fer po’ Tobe, he had hop’ off down ter dat ma’sh en had jump’ in de water, en had waited fer hisse’f ter tu’n back. But w’en he didn’ tu’n back de fus’ day, he ’lowed Aun’ Peggy had put in too much er de mixtry, en bein ’ez de ma’sh wuz full er minners en snails en crawfish en yuther things w’at bull-frogs laks ter eat, he ’lowed he mought ’s well be comf’table en enjoy hisse’f ’tel his bull-frog time wuz up.

“But bimeby, wen a mont’ roll’ by, en two mont’s, en th’ee mont’s, en a yeah, Tobe kinder ’lowed dey wuz sump’n wrong ’bout dat goopher, en so he ’mence’ ter go up on de dry lan’ en look fer Aun’ Peggy. En one day w’en she came ’long by de ma’sh, he got in front er her, en croak’ en croak’; but Aun’ Peggy wuz studyin’ ’bout sump’n e’se; en ’sides, she ’lowed Tobe wuz done gone ’way en got free long, long befo’, so she didn’ pay no ’tention ter de big bull-frog she met in de path, ’cep’n ter push him out’n de road wid her stick.

“So Tobe went back ter his ma’sh, en dere he’s be’n eber sence. It’s be’n fifty yeahs er mo’, en Tobe mus’ be ’bout ten yeahs older ’n I is. But he ain’ nebber got ti’ed er wantin’ ter be tu’nt back ter hisse’f, er ter sump’n w’at could run erway ter de Norf. Co’se ef he had waited lak de res’ un us he’d a be’n free long ago; but he didn’ know dat, en he doan know it yet. En eve’y night, w’en de frogs sta’ts up, dem w’at knows ’bout Tobe kin reco’nize his voice en heah ’im callin’, callin’, callin’ ole Aun’ Peggy fer ter come en tu’n ’im back, des ez ef Aun’ Peggy hadn’ be’n restin’ in Aberham’s bosom fer fo’ty yeahs er mo’. Oncet in a w’ile I notices dat Tobe doan say nuffin fer a night er so, en so I ’lows he’s gittin’ ole en po’ly, en trouble’ wid hoa’seness er rheumatiz er sump’n er ’nuther, fum bein’ in de water so long. I doan ’spec’ he’s gwine to be dere many mo’ yeahs; but w’iles he is dere, it ’pears ter me he oughter be ’lowed ter lib out de res’ er his days in peace.

“Dat’s de reason w’y,” the old man concluded, “I doan lak ter see nobody eat’n frogs’ laigs out’n dat ma’sh. Ouch!” he added suddenly, putting his hand to the pit of his stomach, “Ouch!”

“What’s the matter, Uncle Julius?” my wife inquired with solicitude.

“Oh, nuffin, ma’m, nuffin wuf noticin’⁠—des a little tech er mis’ry in my innards. I s’pose talkin’ ’bout po’ old Tobe, in dat col’, wet ma’sh, wid nobody ter ’sociate wid but frogs en crawfish en water-moccasins en sich, en wid nuffin fittin’ ter eat, is des sorter upsot me mo’ er less. If you is anyways int’rusted in a ole nigger’s feelin’s, I ruther ’spec’ a drap er dem bitters out’n dat little flat jimmyjohn er yo’n git me shet er dis mis’ry quicker’n anything e’se I knows.”

Endnotes

1. A small card, resembling a currycomb in construction, and used by negroes in the rural districts instead of a comb. ↩

2. Sweetheart. ↩

Colophon

The Conjure Woman
was published in 1899 by
Charles W. Chesnutt.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Mitchell Jacobs,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2004 by
Suzanne Shell, Sjaani, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg,
transcriptions produced between 1999 and 2007 by
John M. Freiermuth and Stephanie P. Browner
for
The Charles Chesnutt Digital Archive,
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive
and at the
HathiTrust Digital Library.

The cover page is adapted from
Woman and Child (Silence),
a painting completed in 1855 by
Jean-François Millet.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.

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