The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conjure Woman, by Charles W. Chesnutt

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Title: The Conjure Woman

Author: Charles W. Chesnutt

Release Date: March 22, 2004 [EBook #11666]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE CONJURE WOMAN

BY

CHARLES W. CHESNUTT

First published in 1899 by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

CONTENTS

THE GOOPHERED GRAPEVINE
PO' SANDY
MARS JEEMS'S NIGHTMARE
THE CONJURER'S REVENGE
SIS' BECKY'S PICKANINNY
THE GRAY WOLF'S HA'NT
HOT-FOOT HANNIBAL

"The Conjurer's Revenge" is reprinted from _The Overland Monthly_ by
permission of the publishers.

APPENDIX

Uncollected Uncle Julius Stories
Dave's Neckliss (1889)
A Deep Sleeper (1893)
Lonesome Ben (1900)
Essay
Superstitions and Folk-Lore of the South (1901)

THE CONJURE WOMAN

* * * * *

THE GOOPHERED GRAPEVINE

Some years ago my wife was in poor health, and our family doctor, in
whose skill and honesty I had implicit confidence, advised a change of
climate. I shared, from an unprofessional standpoint, his opinion that
the raw winds, the chill rains, and the violent changes of temperature
that characterized the winters in the region of the Great Lakes tended
to aggravate my wife's difficulty, and would undoubtedly shorten her
life if she remained exposed to them. The doctor's advice was that we
seek, not a temporary place of sojourn, but a permanent residence, in a
warmer and more equable climate. I was engaged at the time in
grape-culture in northern Ohio, and, as I liked the business and had
given it much study, I decided to look for some other locality suitable
for carrying it on. I thought of sunny France, of sleepy Spain, of
Southern California, but there were objections to them all. It occurred
to me that I might find what I wanted in some one of our own Southern
States. It was a sufficient time after the war for conditions in the
South to have become somewhat settled; and I was enough of a pioneer to
start a new industry, if I could not find a place where grape-cult