(He can hardly walk.) He believes some of what the fortune tellers
tell comes true. He has been on the same farm since 1887, which is
forty-nine years, and did fine till four years ago. He can't work,
couldn't pay taxes, and has lost his land.
He was paralized five months, helpless as a baby, couldn't dress
himself. An herb doctor settled at Green Grove and used herbs for tea
and poultices and cured him. The doctors and the law run him out of
there. His name was Hopkins from Popular Bluff, Missouri.
Charlie Vaden used to have rheumatism and he carried a buckeye in each
pants pocket to make the rheumatism lighter. He thought it did some
good.
He has a birthmark. Said his mother must have craved pig tails. He never
had enough pig tails to eat in his life. The butchers give them to him
when he comes to Hazen or Des Arc. He said he would "fight a circle saw
for a pig tail."
He can't remember any old songs or old tales. In fact he was too small
when his mother died (five years old).
He believes in herb medicine of all kinds but can't remember except
garlic poultice is good for neuralgia. Sassafras is a good tea, a good
blood purifier in the spring of the year.
He knows a weather sign that seldom or never falls. "Thunder in the
morning, rain before noon." "Seldom rains at night in July in Arkansas.
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