Two Little Savages Read online

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  Biddy's Contribution

  An Irish-Canadian servant girl from Sanger now became a member oftheir household. Her grandmother was an herb-doctor in great repute.She had frequently been denounced as a witch, although in goodstanding as a Catholic. This girl had picked up some herb-lore, andone day when all the family were visiting the cemetery she darted intovarious copses and produced plants which she named, together with thecomplaint that her grandmother used them for.

  "Sassafras, that makes tea for skin disease; Ginseng, that's good tosell; Bloodroot for the blood in springtime; Goldthread, that curessore mouths; Pipsissewa for chills and fever; White-man's Foot, thatsprings up wherever a White-man treads; Indian cup, that grows wherean Indian dies; Dandelion roots for coffee; Catnip tea for a cold;Lavender tea for drinking at meals; Injun Tobacco to mix with boughtentobacco; Hemlock bark to dye pink; Goldthread to dye yellow, andButternut rinds for greenish."

  All of these were passing trifles to the others, but to Yan they werethe very breath of life, and he treasured up all of these thingsin his memory. Biddy's information was not unmixed with error andsuperstition:

  "Hold Daddy Longlegs by one leg and say, 'tell me where the cows are,'and he will point just right under another leg, and onct he told mewhere to find my necklace when I lost it.

  "Shoot the Swallows and the cows give bloody milk. That's the way oldSam White ruined his milk business--shooting Swallows.

  "Lightning never strikes a barn where Swallows nest. Paw never restedeasy after the new barn was built till the Swallows nested in it. Hehad it insured for a hundred dollars till the Swallows got round tolook after it.

  "When a Measuring-worm crawls on you, you are going to get a new suitof clothes. My brother-in-law says they walk over him every year insummer and sure enough, he gets a new suit. But they never does it inwinter, cause he don't get new clothes then.

  "Split a Crow's tongue and he will talk like a girl. Granny knowed aman that had a brother back of Mara that got a young Crow andsplit his tongue an' he told Granny it was _just_ like a girltalking--an' Granny told me!

  "Soak a Horse-hair in rainwater and it will turn into a Snake. Ain'tthere lots uv Snakes around ponds where Horses drink? Well!

  "Kill a Spider an' it will rain to-morrow. Now, that's worth knowin'.I mind one year when the Orangeman's picnic was comin', 12th of July,Maw made us catch twenty Spiders and we killed them all the daybefore, and law, how it did rain on the picnic! Mebbe we didn't laugh.Most of them hed to go home in boats, that's what our paper said. Butnext year they done the same thing on us for St. Patrick's Day, butSpiders is scarce on the 16th of March, an' it didn't rain so much assnow, so it was about a stand-off.

  "Toads gives warts. You seen them McKenna twins--their hands is asight with warts. Well, I seen them two boys playing with Toads likethey was marbles. So! An' they might a-knowed what was comin'. Ain'tevery Toad just covered with warts as thick as he can stick?

  "That there's Injun tobacco. The Injuns always use it, and Grannydoes, too, sometimes." (Yan made special note of this--he must getsome and smoke it, if it was _Indian_.)

  "A Witch-hazel wand will bob over a hidden spring and show where todig. Denny Scully is awful good at it. He gets a dollar for showingwhere to sink a well, an' if they don't strike water it's because theydidn't dig where he said, or spiled the charm some way or nuther, andhez to try over.

  "Now, that's Dandelion. Its roots makes awful good coffee. Grannyallers uses it. She says that it is healthier than store coffee, butMaw says she likes boughten things best, and the more they cost thebetter she likes them.

  "Now, that's Ginseng. It has a terrible pretty flower in spring.There's tons and tons of it sent to China. Granny says the Chineseeats it, to make them cheerful, but they don't seem to eat enough.

  "There's Slippery Elm. It's awfully good for loosening up a cold, ifyou drink the juice the bark's bin biled in. One spring Granny made abucketful. She set it outside to cool, an' the pig he drunk it all up,an' he must a had a cold, for it loosened him up so he dropped hisback teeth. I seen them myself lying out there in the yard. Yes, Idid.

  "That's Wintergreen. Lots of boys I know chew that to make the girlslike them. Lots of them gits a beau that way, too. I done it myselfmany's a time.

  "Now, that is what some folks calls Injun Turnip, an' the childrencalls it Jack-in-a-Pulpit, but Granny calls it 'Sorry-plant,' cos shesays when any one eats it it makes them feel sorry for the last foolthing they done. I'll put some in your Paw's coffee next time he licksyer and mebbe that'll make him quit. It just makes me sick to see yegettin' licked fur every little thing ye can't help.

  "A Snake's tongue is its sting. You put your foot on a Snake and seehow he tries to sting you. An' his tail don't die till sundown. I seenthat myself, onct, an' Granny says so, too, an' what Granny don't knowain't knowledge--it's only book-larnin'."

  These were her superstitions, most of them more or less obviouslyabsurd to Yan; but she had also a smattering of backwoods lore and Yangleaned all he could.

  She had so much of what he wanted to know that he had almost made uphis mind to tell her where he went each Saturday when he had finishedhis work.

  A week or two longer and she would have shared the great secret, butsomething took place to end their comradeship.