LOCATION: Savannah, Georgia
PERIOD: 1903-1904
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Lucas Wilson Robison (1859-1918); Nora Corbyn Sprague (1876-1955); Isaac “Ike” Jones (1834-1925)
When Nora Sprague Robison was 27 years old, she noticed a hard cyst on her face. She thought it would resolve itself, but it only got harder. She went to her doctor in Savannah who wanted to surgically remove it, since he was afraid it might become cancerous otherwise. The Robison family was an old Georgia clan, and there was an old veteran of the Civil War, Isaac “Ike” Jones, who would visit from time to time, he possessed a trove of stories about Lucas’s father, the “Cunnel.”
Ike lived about five miles outside of town in a crude cabin in the hills surrounding Savannah. He regularly would walk into town, and would stop at the Robison house. Nora usually had two things for him: chewing tobacco and two complete sets of clothes. On Ike’s most recent visit, he happened to see “the wen” on her face: “I will come back in a week to look at it, and when it’s ripe, I’ll dose it twice with my salve. It will fall off after the second dose, abot ten days.”
Of course, Lucas doesn’t put any stock in Ike’s folk remedies, and insisted, supported by Doc Brady, that Nora ought to see a real doctor, someone who knows about cancer. So they go to Atlanta for a consult.
Source material for this song includes the novels, Flags in the Dust: The complete text of Faulkner’s third novel, which appeared in a cut version as Sartoris (Vintage International) by William Faulkner; and Stegner W. A. Williams T. T. & Watkins T. H. (2007). Crossing to safety. Random House Publishing Group.
SAVANNAH, 1903
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)
It was supposed to be just a routine visit,
Let Doc Brady look at her cheek;
“Ike Jones said he can cure it.”
Doc smiled, “let’s have a peek.
Naw, Nora, we won’t let ol’ Ike
Put his dope on this wart;
His salve is fine for livestock an’ th’ like,
But we won’t let him reach this far.”
“I can have it out this afternoon,
You’ll never know it was ever there.
But we best do something pretty soon;
Left untreated it could come to cancer.”
That was the last day she was happy,
Th’ last time Nora’s life was carefree.
She bought a bag a peppermint candy;
Savannah, 1903.
“Nora, you’re stubborn as a settin’ hen,
I don’t waste time hurtin’ folks;”
Ike patted his salve onto the wen,
With small practiced strokes.
“It’ll turn black tomorrah,
Long’s it’s black, it’s workin’.
Don’ put no water
On yo’ face befo’ mawnin’.”
“In ten days I’ll come back
To apply another dose;
On the ninth day of July,
Thereabouts, it’ll drop off.”
After old man Jones had left,
Nora touched the spot, but softly;
Rememberin’ what Ike had said:
Savannah, 1903.
Her husband, Lucas, and Doc Brady,
Put Nora on the train to Atlanta;
And sat her down to wait in the lobby,
Of th’ expert Brady’d found on cancer.
He marched through the door briskly,
“Havin’ lunch downtown, can’t delay;
Sir, are you the patient? Are you ready?”
“No. You’re to see my wife today”
“What’s that on her face?” he demands,
As he touched the dark smudge on her cheek.
The thing came off in his hand;
Exposing baby pink skin beneath.
On the train that evening Nora squint her eye,
“What’s today’s date, tell me?”
“The ninth,” Lucas answered, “of July?”
Savannah, 1903.
© 2023 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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