I soaked it in de skillet, an' stripped it 'long by degrees, till I
got ter de en', w'en I boun' it under my foot an' roun' my ankle. Den I
kneel' down an' prayed, an' next mawnin de swellin' wuz all gone! Dat
voice wus de Spirit er de Lawd talkin' ter me, it sho' wuz! De Lawd have
mussy upon us, praise his Holy Name!"
Very obviously Harriet had sprained her ankle while looking at the old
man instead of watching the path, and the hot fomentation had reduced
the swelling. She is not the first person to hear spirit voices in his
or her own vagrant imaginings.
On another occasion, Aunt Harriet's finger swelled up "as big as a corn
cob." She at first supposed the swelling to be due to a felon. She went
to old Uncle Julius Lutterloh, who told her that some one had tricked
her. "My Lawd!" she exclaimed, "how did they fix my finger?" He
explained that it was done while in the act of shaking hands. "Doctor"
Julius opened the finger with a sharp knife and showed Harriet two seeds
at the bottom of the incision. He instructed her to put a poultice of
red onions on the wound over night, and in the morning the seeds would
come out.
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