Old Josh, in: Ole White Magic (1869))Pure Nigger: 2nd Series)) Episodes: 27, 28 & 29))
Old Josh, in:
Ole White Magic (1869)
Part I of III (Episode #27)
(This is a story about Old White Magic, an old timer in Ozark, Alabama, a Negro, who was a favorite Blackman among the white race, the chosen one, the black folks, used to call him, he was a clock maker, or fixer, his image really nondescript, but I shall try boldly to describe him now and then, throughout this sketch, and two more of him. He was so black and ugly the black men of Ozark didn’t look twice at him, and the white folk laughed holding their bellies looking at him. He was something of a legend in his own time, he came from the unfathomed jungles of the Congo, from Africa it was said. And up until his death in 1870, no one knew his age, or thereabouts. He had old papers showing he was a free man, and thus, some fifty years from the year 1869, he had come to Ozark, a stranger then, came out of nowhere it seemed at the time, and opened up his shop.)
Silas: He come from Afr’ica like you pa, maybe he knowed your pa? He as ugly as de bulldog, and black er den de rich soil in de Hightower garden!
Josh: Yessem, he still cant speak but ten words of de English, but he can count de money well!
Silas: Da only thing diff’erent I sees in he since de dey I wuz born is he done changed his cloths a few times, but de white folks like him.
Josh: Mr. Clayton, he likes Ole White Magic, dat some of it…
(A mild man he was Ole White Magic, it seemed in 1869, he was about to die and be buried, he bought a plot of land in the old cemetery, his clocks were not selling, and folks in Ozark, thought maybe he’d take his own life, he seemed to be depressed. He joined the Presbyterian Church, but that was back in 1850s, yet seldom did he attend, and folks said he had money, but he never seemed to spend it. So it was a life he led of secrecy. But he and the Clayton family got along well with him, especially, Anthony Clayton.)
Josh: I done told him ‘bout a hundred times, enjoy wha’ you hab, kaze you jes look at it and den you die… (Meaning money)
Silas: Pa, you should hab pulled his chestnuts to he foot, he jes a fool of a man
Josh: I mean no offence son, he ain’ no bad man, he jes secret; a man can be worn out in three score and ten, I think he six score and twenty, he look it anyhow, maybe he jes come to Ozark an’ dont knowed how to die.
Silas: I is jes curious…
Josh: He come in so long ago to Oark, folks dont remember da year, he tells men to go takes care of dere own private affair, I think he is right, who care how ole he is, he jes taken a long time to die.
Silas: Who signed his paper pa, his free paper?
Josh: Some General called Washington, I sees it one day…dats all I knowed of him, he wuz a boy den.
2-16-2007
Old Josh, in:
Ole White Magic & De Rat house (1870)
(Episode #28/Part II of III)
(Josh’s Conversation with Silas)
Josh: Human nature an’ self interest son is de debil-bird singin’ in de ear whn yous doing nothin’ (said Josh to Silas) adding: Yessum, de debil-bird if you don’t knowed him, you is better to stay in bed, you is safer…
Silas: Ole White Magic die, guine now on six month’ pa, no one can find his money, da say it in de walls some place…! He ain’ had good sense … wha’ you think he did wit de money?
Josh: When da die, everyone think dey leave money here and dere…da paper say he 120-year ole, when he die, dat he a boy when ole Washington sign his paper, dat his pa fough’t in de war, de first war, his pa a hero wit him…!
Silas: He alway’ unshaven pa!
Josh: White Magic—Yessum, he wuz da same old dirty trouser’ he come to Oark with, all de time, but he hab a white clean shirt on for de white folk to see. I sees him tremble de last few days, his eyes ole, ole…!
Silas: Des here is a hot dey too much for me pa, I dont wants to et…
Josh: Yessum, ole White Magic wuz a right hearty eater, until de last deys of his life. I even bring he meat, but he protestin’ to et… He jes say, ‘Josh, it suits me here,’ an’ he sits in de chair in his shop, all clutter, things here and dere, night an’ day. I hear de many de rat in de attic—his house de rat house of Ozark, I hears de foot of de rat, moving here and dere… but I tells myself, I am twenty-years past worryin’ ‘bout such things, let de ole man be, he like de rat, let him hab dem, keep him compan’y. An’ I sees his bed, jes ole tile roofing, a board over dat, and tarred paper over dat. He a quie man, no laundry no nothin’—jes an ole bed…an’ a picture…!
Silas: Wha’ de picture of pa?
Josh: A little white girl, from New Orleans, dat is it…!
Silas: I wonder why de white girl.
Josh: Nothin’ ever looks de same to two diff’ant people…
Old Josh, in:
De Tadpole & Ole White Magic (1871)
(Episode #29))Part III of III))
(Mr. Carter, was Mattie’s Lawyer, they were both on their way to Ozark, Alabama, after hearing the news that Ole White Magic had died.)
Silas: Wha’ de tadpale, pa?
Josh: It a man born to steal—dat wha’ it is son, like de white an’ black folk of Ozark who tryin’ to find ole White Magic Money an’ keeps it for dem self. When dey knowed he have a white daughter in New Orleans coming to Ozark to claim her pa’s things, she ain’ suffern any I suppose, but it belongs to her.
Silas: Ole White Magic like de red grape wine, it makes he live long!
Josh: Dat it did, Siles, he never use tobacca, or liquor, jes de wine, he guin to heaven I suppose kaze of dat, he like de bible too, but he jes cant read it.
(That evening, Josh and Silas, discussed ole White Magic’s life at length, sitting on his porch, twilight appearing, and the blue print of his life was interesting to them…)
Silas: I like to make jam or jelly out of de grapes pa, not de wine, maybe I should change to de wine, lives long like him? Maybe he makes de wine for de white folks, sells it…?
Josh: No, da neighbor folk never sees him do dat, but ole man Anthony Clayton used to go over to he shop an’ dey drink all de day long, a white man wit da nigger, when he wuz in town dat is. De white folk talk, but dey both got more money den all de folks in Ozark, so dey say nothin’.
Silas: maybe pa I will et now—! I don’t reckon Ole White Magic was married ever, but his pa a hero an’ all.
Josh: Mattie Washington Westchester, dat her name, I hears da sheriff call her dat, an’ she a comin’ with de Lawyer from Orleans, called Carter. I sees her picture in de paper, she is white as cookin’ rice… an’ she be here soon…sometimes men got better thinkin’ den women, dey know how to let go of things, dat why Ole Magic send her all de money, kaze, here da guin cause her trouble…!
Ole White Magic (1869)
Part I of III (Episode #27)
(This is a story about Old White Magic, an old timer in Ozark, Alabama, a Negro, who was a favorite Blackman among the white race, the chosen one, the black folks, used to call him, he was a clock maker, or fixer, his image really nondescript, but I shall try boldly to describe him now and then, throughout this sketch, and two more of him. He was so black and ugly the black men of Ozark didn’t look twice at him, and the white folk laughed holding their bellies looking at him. He was something of a legend in his own time, he came from the unfathomed jungles of the Congo, from Africa it was said. And up until his death in 1870, no one knew his age, or thereabouts. He had old papers showing he was a free man, and thus, some fifty years from the year 1869, he had come to Ozark, a stranger then, came out of nowhere it seemed at the time, and opened up his shop.)
Silas: He come from Afr’ica like you pa, maybe he knowed your pa? He as ugly as de bulldog, and black er den de rich soil in de Hightower garden!
Josh: Yessem, he still cant speak but ten words of de English, but he can count de money well!
Silas: Da only thing diff’erent I sees in he since de dey I wuz born is he done changed his cloths a few times, but de white folks like him.
Josh: Mr. Clayton, he likes Ole White Magic, dat some of it…
(A mild man he was Ole White Magic, it seemed in 1869, he was about to die and be buried, he bought a plot of land in the old cemetery, his clocks were not selling, and folks in Ozark, thought maybe he’d take his own life, he seemed to be depressed. He joined the Presbyterian Church, but that was back in 1850s, yet seldom did he attend, and folks said he had money, but he never seemed to spend it. So it was a life he led of secrecy. But he and the Clayton family got along well with him, especially, Anthony Clayton.)
Josh: I done told him ‘bout a hundred times, enjoy wha’ you hab, kaze you jes look at it and den you die… (Meaning money)
Silas: Pa, you should hab pulled his chestnuts to he foot, he jes a fool of a man
Josh: I mean no offence son, he ain’ no bad man, he jes secret; a man can be worn out in three score and ten, I think he six score and twenty, he look it anyhow, maybe he jes come to Ozark an’ dont knowed how to die.
Silas: I is jes curious…
Josh: He come in so long ago to Oark, folks dont remember da year, he tells men to go takes care of dere own private affair, I think he is right, who care how ole he is, he jes taken a long time to die.
Silas: Who signed his paper pa, his free paper?
Josh: Some General called Washington, I sees it one day…dats all I knowed of him, he wuz a boy den.
2-16-2007
Old Josh, in:
Ole White Magic & De Rat house (1870)
(Episode #28/Part II of III)
(Josh’s Conversation with Silas)
Josh: Human nature an’ self interest son is de debil-bird singin’ in de ear whn yous doing nothin’ (said Josh to Silas) adding: Yessum, de debil-bird if you don’t knowed him, you is better to stay in bed, you is safer…
Silas: Ole White Magic die, guine now on six month’ pa, no one can find his money, da say it in de walls some place…! He ain’ had good sense … wha’ you think he did wit de money?
Josh: When da die, everyone think dey leave money here and dere…da paper say he 120-year ole, when he die, dat he a boy when ole Washington sign his paper, dat his pa fough’t in de war, de first war, his pa a hero wit him…!
Silas: He alway’ unshaven pa!
Josh: White Magic—Yessum, he wuz da same old dirty trouser’ he come to Oark with, all de time, but he hab a white clean shirt on for de white folk to see. I sees him tremble de last few days, his eyes ole, ole…!
Silas: Des here is a hot dey too much for me pa, I dont wants to et…
Josh: Yessum, ole White Magic wuz a right hearty eater, until de last deys of his life. I even bring he meat, but he protestin’ to et… He jes say, ‘Josh, it suits me here,’ an’ he sits in de chair in his shop, all clutter, things here and dere, night an’ day. I hear de many de rat in de attic—his house de rat house of Ozark, I hears de foot of de rat, moving here and dere… but I tells myself, I am twenty-years past worryin’ ‘bout such things, let de ole man be, he like de rat, let him hab dem, keep him compan’y. An’ I sees his bed, jes ole tile roofing, a board over dat, and tarred paper over dat. He a quie man, no laundry no nothin’—jes an ole bed…an’ a picture…!
Silas: Wha’ de picture of pa?
Josh: A little white girl, from New Orleans, dat is it…!
Silas: I wonder why de white girl.
Josh: Nothin’ ever looks de same to two diff’ant people…
Old Josh, in:
De Tadpole & Ole White Magic (1871)
(Episode #29))Part III of III))
(Mr. Carter, was Mattie’s Lawyer, they were both on their way to Ozark, Alabama, after hearing the news that Ole White Magic had died.)
Silas: Wha’ de tadpale, pa?
Josh: It a man born to steal—dat wha’ it is son, like de white an’ black folk of Ozark who tryin’ to find ole White Magic Money an’ keeps it for dem self. When dey knowed he have a white daughter in New Orleans coming to Ozark to claim her pa’s things, she ain’ suffern any I suppose, but it belongs to her.
Silas: Ole White Magic like de red grape wine, it makes he live long!
Josh: Dat it did, Siles, he never use tobacca, or liquor, jes de wine, he guin to heaven I suppose kaze of dat, he like de bible too, but he jes cant read it.
(That evening, Josh and Silas, discussed ole White Magic’s life at length, sitting on his porch, twilight appearing, and the blue print of his life was interesting to them…)
Silas: I like to make jam or jelly out of de grapes pa, not de wine, maybe I should change to de wine, lives long like him? Maybe he makes de wine for de white folks, sells it…?
Josh: No, da neighbor folk never sees him do dat, but ole man Anthony Clayton used to go over to he shop an’ dey drink all de day long, a white man wit da nigger, when he wuz in town dat is. De white folk talk, but dey both got more money den all de folks in Ozark, so dey say nothin’.
Silas: maybe pa I will et now—! I don’t reckon Ole White Magic was married ever, but his pa a hero an’ all.
Josh: Mattie Washington Westchester, dat her name, I hears da sheriff call her dat, an’ she a comin’ with de Lawyer from Orleans, called Carter. I sees her picture in de paper, she is white as cookin’ rice… an’ she be here soon…sometimes men got better thinkin’ den women, dey know how to let go of things, dat why Ole Magic send her all de money, kaze, here da guin cause her trouble…!
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