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Mos' of my powder business is wid cullud people. Dey is great on powders.
Especially dat Get-Away Powder what comes fum Kemphis. Dey 'low dey can't do
widout dat. Some lek de Charm-You Powder too. An' de Young Blush Powder what I
gits in New Orleans is mighty pop'lar. De widows buys me out or dat fas' as I
stock up on hit. Widows is wile about Young Blush. But dey loves sumpin else
better. Dey's only one thing a widow iwll go widout her sumpin-teet to buy, an'
dat's Adam an' Eve Root. Yessum, or widow is gwiner have dat Adam an' Eve root
if she hafta go to jail fur hit. Water runs down hill... grass grows up 'ards...
an' widows is gwiner be widows.

"I ain't never got along no good wid widows. Dat's how come I ain't a
preacher. I started out fur to be a preacher ones. An' while I was not to preach
I read de Bible. I see in de Bible whar hit say fur Ministers to keep deyse'f
unspotted fum de wold'. Den hit say to visit de widows. Yessum, hit say boye er
dam things. But if you is ever been aoquainted wid any widows you know a preacher
can't visit 'em an' keep his-se'f unspotted. Hit can't be did. So I give up de
preachin', an' went back to farmin' on shares an' to singin' all day while I hoed
out de cotton rows in de fields.

"Histis, is you ever heard darkies singin' while day picks cotton, or
chops out de Johnson grass, or drives pillin' along a wharf, or a railroad track?
Ain't it de mournfulness sound you ever is heard? Yessum, hit's de echo of all
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