DOMESTIC FOLK-LORE.
BY
REV. T. F. THISELTON DYER, M.A., OXON.,
_Author of "British Popular Customs" and
"English Folk-lore."_
CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO.:
_LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK._
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
PREFACE.
For the name "Folk-lore" in its present signification, embracing the
Popular Traditions, Proverbial Sayings, Superstitions, and Customs
of the people, we are in a great measure indebted to the late editor
of _Notes and Queries_--Mr. W. J. Thoms--who, in an anonymous
contribution to the _Athenæum_ of 22nd August, 1846, very aptly
suggested this comprehensive term, which has since been adopted as
the recognised title of what has now become an important branch of
antiquarian research.
The study of Folk-lore is year by year receiving greater attention,
its object being to collect, classify, and preserve survivals of
popular belief, and to trace them as far as possible to their
original source. This task is no easy one, as school-boards and
railways are fast sweeping away every vestige of the old beliefs
and customs which, in days gone by, held such a prominent place in
social and domestic life. The Folk-lorist has, also, to deal with
remote periods, and to examine the history of tales and traditions
which have been handed down from the distant past and have lost
much of their meaning in the lapse of years. But, as a writer in
the _Standard_ has pointed out, Folk-lore students tread on no
man's toes. "They take up points of history which the historian
despises, and deal with monuments more intangible but infinitely more
ancient than those about which Sir John Lubbock is so solicitous.
They prosper and are happy on the crumbs dropped from the tables of
the learned, and grow scientifically rich on the refuse which less
skilful craftsmen toss aside as useless. The tales with which the
nurse wiles her charge asleep provide for the Folk-lore student a
succulent banquet--for he knows that there is scarcely a child's
story or a vain thought that may not be traced back to the boyhood of
the world, and to those primitive races from which so many polished
nations have sprung."
The field of research, too, in which the Folk-lorist is engaged is
a most extensive one, supplying materials for investigation of a
widespread character. Thus he recognises and, as far as he possibly
can, explains the smallest item of superstition wherever found, not
limiting his inquiries to any one subject. This, therefore, whilst
enhancing the value of Folk-lore as a study, in the same degree
increases its interest, since with a perfect impartiality it lays
bare superstition as it exists among all classes of society. Whilst
condemning, it may be, the uneducated peasant who places credence in
the village fortune-teller or "cunning man," we are apt to forget
how oftentimes persons belonging to the higher classes are found
consulting with equal faith some clairvoyant or spirit-medium.
Hence, however reluctant the intelligent part of the community may be
to own the fact, it must be admitted that superstition, in one form
or another, dwells beneath the surface of most human hearts, although
it may frequently display itself in the most disguised or refined
form. Among the lower orders, as a writer has observed, "it wears its
old fashions, in the higher it changes with the rapidity of modes
in fashionable circles." Indeed, it is no matter of surprise that
superstition prevails among the poor and ignorant, when we find the
affluent and enlightened in many cases quite as ready to repose their
belief in the most illogical ideas.
In conclusion, we would only add that the present little volume has
been written with a view of showing how this rule applies even to the
daily routine of Domestic Life, every department of which, as will be
seen in the following pages, has its own Folk-lore.
T. F. THISELTON DYER.
_Brighton, May, 1881._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND INFANCY. PAGE
Value of Superstitions--Lucky Days and Hours of Birth--The
Caul--The Changeling--The Evil Eye--"Up and not
Down"--Rocking the Empty Cradle--Teeth, Nails, and
Hands--The Maple and the Ash--Unchristened Children 1
CHAPTER II.
CHILDHOOD.
Nursery Literature--The Power of Baptism--Confirmation--Popular
Prayers--Weather Rhymes--School Superstitions--Barring
out 16
CHAPTER III.
LOVE AND COURTSHIP.
Love-tests--Plants used in Love-charms--The Lady-bird--The
Snail--St. Valentine's Day--Midsummer Eve--Hallowe'en--Omens
on Friday 23
CHAPTER IV.
MARRIAGE.
Seasons and Days propitious to Marriage--Superstitions connected
with the Bride--Meeting a Funeral--Robbing the Bride of
Pins--Dancing in a Hog's Trough--The Wedding-cake--The Ring 36
CHAPTER V.
DEATH AND BURIAL.
Warnings of Death--The Howling of Dogs--A Cow in the
Garden--Death-presaging Birds--Plants--The Will-o'-the-Wisp--The
Sympathy between Two Personalities--Prophecy--Dying
Hardly--The Last Act--Place and Position of the Grave 48
CHAPTER VI.
THE HUMAN BODY.
Superstitions about Deformity, Moles, &c.--Tingling of the
Ear--The Nose--The Eye--The Teeth--The Hair--The
Hand--Dead Man's Hand--The Feet 65
CHAPTER VII.
ARTICLES OF DRESS.
New Clothes at Easter and Whitsuntide--Wearing of Clothes--The
Clothes of the Dead--The Apron, Stockings, Garters, &c.--The
Shoe--The Glove--The Ring--Pins 81
CHAPTER VIII.
TABLE SUPERSTITIONS.
Thirteen at Table--Salt-spilling--The Knife--Bread, and other
Articles of Food--Wishing Bones--Tea-leaves--Singing before
Breakfast--Shaking Hands across the Table 100
CHAPTER IX.
FURNITURE OMENS.
Folk-lore of the Looking-glass--Luck of Edenhall--
Clock-falling--Chairs--Beds--The Bellows 111
CHAPTER X.
HOUSEHOLD SUPERSTITIONS.
Prevalence and Continuity of Superstitions--Sneezing--
Stumbling--A Whistling Woman--Sweeping--Breaking
Crockery--Fires and Candles--Money--Other Superstitions 120
CHAPTER XI.
POPULAR DIVINATIONS.
Bible and Key--Dipping--Sieve and Shears--Crowing of the
Cock--Spatulamancia--Palmistry and Onymancy--Look-divination--
Astrology--Cards--Casting Lot--Tea-stalks 134
CHAPTER XII.
COMMON AILMENTS.
Charm-remedies--For Ague--Bleeding of the Nose--Burns--Cramp--
Epilepsy--Fits--Gout--Headache, &c. 148
CHAPTER XIII.
MISCELLANEOUS HOUSEHOLD LORE.
Horse-shoes--Precautions against Witchcraft--The Charmer--Second
Sight--Ghosts--Dreams--Nightmare 169
INDEX 181
DOMESTIC FOLK-LORE.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND INFANCY.
Value of Superstitions--Lucky Days and Hours of Birth--The
Caul--The Changeling--The Evil Eye--"Up and not Down"--Rocking
the Empty Cradle--Teeth, Nails, and Hands--The Maple and the
Ash--Unchristened Children.
Around every stage of human life a variety of customs and
superstitions have woven themselves, most of which, apart from
their antiquarian value, as having been bequeathed to us from the
far-off past, are interesting in so far as they illustrate those
old-world notions and quaint beliefs which marked the social and
domestic life of our forefathers. Although, therefore, many of these
may appear to us meaningless, yet it must be remembered that they
were the natural outcome of that scanty knowledge and those crude
conceptions which prevailed in less enlightened times than our own.
Probably, if our ancestors were in our midst now, they would be able
in a great measure to explain and account for what is often looked
upon now-a-days as childish fancy and so much nursery rubbish. In
the present chapter it is proposed to give a brief and general
survey of the folk-lore associated with birth and infancy, without,
however, entering critically into its origin or growth, or tracing
its transmigration from one country to another. Commencing, then,
with birth, we find that many influences are supposed to affect the
future fortune and character of the infant. Thus, in some places
great attention is paid to the day of the week on which the child is
born, as may be gathered from the following rhyme still current in
Cornwall:--
"Sunday's child is full of grace,
Monday's child is full in the face,
Tuesday's child is solemn and sad,
Wednesday's child is merry and glad,
Thursday's child is inclined to thieving,
Friday's child is free in giving,
Saturday's child works hard for his living"--
a piece of folk-lore varying, of course, in different localities. By
general consent, however, Sunday is regarded as a most lucky day for
birth, both in this country and on the Continent; and according to
the "Universal Fortune-teller"--a book very popular among the lower
classes in former years--"great riches, long life, and happiness" are
in store for those fortunate beings born on Sunday, while in Sussex
they are considered safe against drowning and hanging. Importance
is also attached to the hour of birth; and the faculty of seeing
much that is hidden from others is said to be granted to children
born at the "chime hours," _i.e._, the hours of three, six, nine, or
twelve--a superstition found in many parts of the Continent. There
is, too, an idea prevalent in Germany that when a child is born
in leap-year either it or its mother will die within the course of
the year--a notion not unknown in our own country. Again, from time
immemorial various kinds of divination have been in use for the
purpose of discovering the sex of an infant previous to its birth.
One of these is by means of a shoulder-of-mutton bone, which, after
the whole of the flesh has been stripped clean off, must be hung up
the last thing at night over the front door of the house. On the
following morning the sex of the first person who enters, exclusive
of the members of the household, indicates the sex of the child.
We will next turn to some of the countless superstitions connected
with the new-born child. A highly popular one refers to the caul--a
thin membrane occasionally found covering the head at birth, and
deemed specially lucky, as indicating, among other things, that the
child will never be drowned. It has been, in consequence, termed
the "holy" or "fortunate hood," and great care is generally taken
that it should not be lost or thrown away, for fear of the death or
sickness of the child. This superstitious fancy was very common in
the primitive ages of the Church, and St. Chrysostom inveighs against
it in several of his homilies. The presence of a caul on board ship
was believed to prevent shipwreck, and owners of vessels paid a large
price for them. Most readers will, no doubt, recollect how Thomas
Hood wrote for his early work, "Whims and Oddities," a capital ballad
upon this vulgar error. Speaking of the jolly mariner who confidently
put to sea in spite of the ink-black sky which "told every eye a
storm was soon to be," he goes on to say--
"But still that jolly mariner
Took in no reef at all;
For in his pouch confidingly
He wore a baby's caul."
It little availed him, however; for as soon as the storm in ruthless
fury burst upon his frail bark, he
"Was smothered by the squall.
Heaven ne'er heard his cry, nor did
The ocean heed his _caul_!"
Advocates also purchased them, that they might be endued with
eloquence, the price paid having often been from twenty to thirty
guineas. They seem to have had other magical properties, as Grose
informs us that any one "possessed of a caul may know the state of
health of the person who was born with it. If alive and well, it is
firm and crisp; if dead or sick, relaxed and flaccid." In France the
luck supposed to belong to a caul is proverbial, and _être né coiffé_
is an expression signifying that a person is extremely fortunate.
Apart from the ordinary luck supposed to attach to the "caul," it
may preserve the child from a terrible danger to which, according
to the old idea, it is ever exposed--namely, that of being secretly
carried off and exchanged by some envious witch or fairy for its own
ill-favoured offspring. This superstition was once very common in
many countries, and was even believed by Martin Luther, if we are to
rely on the following extract from his "Table Book:"--"Changelings
Satan lays in the place of the genuine children, that people may
be tormented with them. He often carries off young maidens into
the water." This most reprehensible of the practices attributed
to the fairies is constantly spoken of by our old writers, and is
several times mentioned by Shakespeare. In the speech of Puck, in _A
Midsummer Night's Dream_ (Act ii., sc. 1), that jovial sprite says of
Titania's lovely boy--the cause of quarrel between the King and Queen
of Elfland:--
"She never had so sweet a changeling."
In the _Winter's Tale_ (Act iv., sc. 4) the Shepherd, on discovering
the babe Perdita, tells the Clown, "It was told me I should be
rich by the fairies. This is some changeling." As a preservation
against this danger, sundry charms are observed. Thus, in the
North of England, a carving-knife is still hung from the head of
the cradle, with the point suspended near the child's face. In the
Western Isles of Scotland idiots are believed to be the fairies'
changelings, and in order to regain the lost child, parents have
recourse to the following device:--They place the changeling on the
beach, below high-water mark, when the tide is out, and pay no heed
to its screams, believing that the fairies, rather than allow their
offspring to be drowned by the rising waters, will convey it away and
restore the child they had stolen. The sign that this has been done
is the cessation of the child's crying. In Ireland, too, the peasants
often place the child supposed to be a changeling on a hot shovel, or
torment it in some other way. A similar practice is resorted to in
Denmark, where the mother heats the oven, and places the child on the
peel, pretending to put it in; and sometimes she whips it severely
with a rod, or throws it into the water. The only real safeguard,
however, against this piece of fairy mischief is baptism, and hence
the rite has generally been performed among the peasantry as soon as
possible after birth.
Another danger to which the new-born child is said to be exposed, and
to counteract which baptism is an infallible charm, is the influence
of the "evil eye;" certain persons being thought to possess the power
of inflicting injury by merely looking on those whom they wish to
harm. Although this form of superstition has been gradually dying out
for many years past, yet it still retains its hold in certain country
places. It is interesting to trace this notion as far back as the
time of the Romans; and in the late Professor Conington's translation
of the "Satires of Persius" we find it thus laughably spoken
of:--"Look here! A grandmother or a superstitious aunt has taken baby
from his cradle, and is charming his forehead against mischief by the
joint action of her middle finger and her purifying spittle; for she
knows right well how to check the evil eye." Confining ourselves,
however, to instances recorded in our own country, we find that,
even now-a-days, various charms are practised for counteracting the
baneful influence of this cruel species of witchcraft. Thus, in
Lancashire, some of the chief consist in spitting three times in the
child's face, turning a live coal in the fire, exclaiming, "The Lord
be with us;" whilst in the neighbourhood of Burnley "drawing blood
above the mouth" was once a popular antidote. Self-bored or "lucky
stones" are often hung by the peasantry behind their cottage doors;
and in the South of England a copy of the apocryphal letter of our
Lord to Abgarus, King of Edessa, may occasionally be seen pasted
on the walls. In many places, when a child pines or wastes away,
the cause is often attributed to the "evil eye," and one remedy in
use against this disaster is the following:--Before sunrise it is
brought to a blacksmith of the seventh generation, and laid on the
anvil. The smith then raises his hammer as if he were about to strike
the hot iron, but brings it gently down on the child's body. This
is done three times, after which the child is considered certain
to amend. This superstition survives in Cornwall; and the late Mr.
Hawker, of Morwenstow, a noted authority on such topics, tells us
that two-thirds of the inhabitants of the Tamar side firmly believe
in the power of the evil eye. In Scotland this piece of folk-lore has
prevailed extensively from time immemorial, and one of the charms to
avert it is the "gold and silver water." A sovereign and a shilling
are put into water, which is sprinkled over the patient in the name
of the Trinity. Again, in the Highlands of Scotland, ash-sap is given
to new-born children, because, in common with the rowan, that tree is
supposed to possess the property of resisting the attacks of witches,
fairies, and other imps of darkness. The Irish think that not only
their children but their cattle are "eye-bitten" when they fall
suddenly sick.
Among other important items of folk-lore associated with birth may
be mentioned the popular belief that a child should go up in the
world before it goes down. On leaving its mother's room for the first
time, it is considered absolutely necessary that it should be carried
_up-stairs_ before it goes _down-stairs_, otherwise it will always
keep low in the world, and never rise in after-life either to riches
or distinction. When, however, as often happens, the mother's room
is on the top storey, the nurse overcomes the obstacle by placing
a chair near the door, on which she steps before leaving the room.
In Yorkshire it is further stated that a new-born infant should
always be placed first in the arms of a maiden before any one else
touches it. It has been aptly questioned by Mr. Henderson, in his
"Folk-lore of the Northern Counties," whether we may not trace in
this practice an outgrowth of the mediæval belief that the Virgin
Mary was present at the birth of St. John the Baptist, and received
him first in her arms. Some, too, will never permit an infant to
sleep upon bones--that is, the lap--a piece of folk-lore founded
on some degree of truth; for it has been pointed out that it is
undoubtedly better for a child to support it throughout its whole
length, than to allow its head or legs to hang down, as they might
probably do if the infant was sleeping on the lap. Again, there is
a common idea that a baby and a kitten cannot thrive in the same
house; and should, therefore, as is not unfrequently the case, a cat
have kittens at the time of a birth, these are immediately either
destroyed or given away. Few nurses, also, can be found courageous
enough to weigh a young child, from a superstitious conviction that
it is unfortunate so to do, the child often dying, or, at any rate,
not thriving afterwards. Equally unlucky, too, is it considered to
rock baby's empty cradle, it being an omen of its death--a belief
which also prevails in Scotland. The same notion exists in many parts
of the Continent, and the Swedish folk tell us that it should be
avoided, as it is apt to make the child noisy and given to crying. It
is also deprecated on another ground, that it is ominous of another
claimant for that place of rest--a piece of folk-lore which the
Sussex peasantry express in the following rhyme:--
"If you rock the cradle empty,
Then you shall have babies plenty."
Many consider it a bad sign when the first tooth makes its appearance
in the upper jaw, denoting, it is said, that the child will not
survive its infancy. Whilst speaking of teeth, it may be noted that
they occupy an important place in the folk-lore of infancy. Many
readers will no doubt recollect how the Duke of Gloucester, in
_3 Henry VI._ (Act v., sc. 6), when describing the peculiarities
connected with his birth, relates that--
"The midwife wondered, and the women cried,
'O Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!'
And so I was, which plainly signified
That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog."
In Sussex it is still customary for little children to wear a
necklace of beads made from the root of the peony, as this is
supposed to act as a charm in assisting the cutting of their teeth.
In the same county, too, the peasantry have a great dislike to
throwing away the cast teeth of young children, believing that should
any be accidentally found and gnawed by an animal, the child's new
tooth would exactly correspond with the animal's which had bitten
the old one. Once more, in Scotland and the North of England, when
the first teeth come out, sundry precautions are taken, to make sure
that the fresh ones may be sound and healthy. One of these consists
in filling the cavity with salt, after which the tooth must be burnt,
while the following formula is repeated:--
"Fire! fire! burn bone;
God send me my tooth again."
This practice exists in Sweden, and likewise in Switzerland, where
the tooth is wrapped up in paper, with a little salt, and then
thrown into the fire. The teeth, however, are not the only objects
of superstition in infancy, similar importance being attached to the
nails. In many places, for instance, it is considered imprudent to
cut them till baby is a year old, and then they should be bitten off,
or else there is a likelihood of its growing up dishonest, or of its
being, as the Sussex peasantry say, "light-fingered." Anyhow, special
attention is to be paid to the day of the week on which the child's
nails are cut, if there be any truth in a well-known proverb--
"Better a child had ne'er been born,
Than cut his nails on a Sunday morn."
The same warning is given in Germany, and if it is disregarded, it
is said that the child will be liable to stammer as it grows up. A
curious Northumberland belief affirms that if the first parings of a
child's nails are carefully buried under an ash-tree, it will turn
out in after-life a capital singer. It is also a popular fancy in
nursery folk-lore that the child's future career in this world can
be easily augured from the little specks on its nails, a species of
palmistry still extensively credited by even educated persons, and
one, too, not confined to infancy. Again, the infant's tiny hands
are not free from superstition, and here and there, throughout the
country, there is a notion that for the first few months after its
birth the right one should remain unwashed, the reason assigned for
this strange piece of eccentricity being that it may gather riches.
According to another idea, children born open-handed are said to be
of a bountiful disposition. In Scotland, too, great attention is
paid as to which hand a child uses when taking up for the first time
a spoon to eat. If it should happen to be the left, then, alas! he
is doomed to be an unlucky fellow all through his life. Indeed, as
far as we can judge from the numerous items of folk-lore still in
vogue, it would seem that the early period of infancy, in one way
or another, furnishes countless opportunities for ascertaining what
kind of life is in store for the child in years to come, almost
every trivial action being regarded as indicative of something or
other that shall befall it. Although many of these ideas may seem to
us in this nineteenth century apparently senseless, yet it must be
remembered they are frequently survivals of primitive culture, and
are interesting as having been handed down to us from the distant
past. According to an old superstition, parents desirous of securing
long life for their children should pass them through the branches of
a maple. A few years ago one of these trees had long been resorted
to for this purpose in West Grinstead Park, and as soon as a rumour
spread through the parish that it was about to be demolished, quite
a consternation prevailed in the neighbourhood. Similar properties
are supposed to belong to the ash, weakly infants that do not thrive
being drawn through a cleft in its trunk. This charm, as performed
in Cornwall, is thus:--A large knife is inserted into the trunk of a
young ash, about a foot from the ground, and a vertical opening made
for about three feet. Two men then forcibly pull the parts asunder,
and hold them so, whilst the mother passes the child through the
cleft three times. The ceremony does not end here, as the child has
to be washed for three successive mornings in the dew from the leaves
of the "charmed ash." This supposed magical property of the ash has
an additional interest, when we consider that some thousands of
years ago our ancestors regarded it as one of their wonder-working
trees, and associated it with some of their oldest traditions. At the
present day, too, it is the subject of an extensive folk-lore, to
which we shall have occasion to refer in a succeeding chapter.
Again, if a baby frets and does not appear to thrive, it is supposed
by some to be "longing." Thus, a Sussex nurse one day said to a lady,
"Baby is so uncommon fretty, I do believe he must be longing for
something." When asked what he could be longing for, she replied,
"Something that his mother longed for, but did not get, before he
was born, and the best way to satisfy him would be, I think, to
try him with a brandied cherry, or some hare's brains." This piece
of superstition, however, is not confined to Sussex. Once more,
in addition to the popular notion that cats suck the breath of
infants and so cause their death--one, indeed, without a particle
of truth--there is another in which poor pussy is the victim, an
illustration of which we quote from "Rambles in an Old City," by a
Norfolk author:--"Not long since a woman, holding quite a respectable
rank among the working classes, avowed herself determined to 'drownd'
the cat as soon as ever her baby, which was lying ill, should die.
The only explanation she could give for this determination was that
the cat jumped upon the nurse's lap as the baby lay there soon after
it was born, from which time it ailed, and ever since that time the
cat had regularly gone under its bed once a day and coughed twice.
These mysterious actions of poor 'Tabby' were assigned as the cause
of the baby wasting, and its fate was to be sealed as soon as that
of the poor infant was decided. That the baby happened to be the
twenty-fourth child of his mother, who had succeeded in rearing only
four of the two dozen, was a fact that seemed to possess no weight
whatever in her estimation." This strange antipathy to our domestic
animal no doubt took its origin in the old belief that the cat's is
one of the numerous forms which witches are fond of assuming, and on
this account, in days gone by, poor pussy was oftentimes subjected
to gross ill-treatment at the hands of the ignorant classes. At the
present day, in Germany, there is a deep-rooted belief that witches,
when bent on doing mischief, take the form of a cat, and many stories
are current of their frightening their victims by appearing as "the
nightmare;" or, if dishonestly disposed, of their drinking their
neighbour's beer. Returning, however, again to the subject of our
present chapter, there is a superstitious fancy in the North of
England that it is unlucky to walk over the graves of unchristened
children, which is vulgarly called "unchristened ground," the person
who does so rendering himself liable to catching the fatal disease
of the "grave-scab." This complaint, we are told by Mr. Henderson,
"comes on with a trembling of the limbs and hard breathing, and at
last the skin burns as if touched with hot iron," in allusion to
which an old ballad tells us--
"And it ne'er will be cured by doctor on earth,
Tho' every one should tent him, oh!
He shall tremble and die like the elf-shot eye,
And return from whence he came, oh!"
There is, however, a remedy, though not easy of attainment--"It lies
in the wearing a sark, thus prepared:--The lint must be grown in a
field which shall be manured from a farmyard heap that has not been
disturbed for forty years. It must be spun by Habbitrot, the queen of
spinsters; it must be bleached by an honest bleacher, in an honest
miller's mill-dam, and sewed by an honest tailor. On donning this
mysterious vestment, the sufferer will at once regain his health and
strength." Unfortunately the necessary conditions for the successful
accomplishment of this charm are so difficult, that he must be a
clever man who can fulfil them. In the South of England, on the
other hand, we do not find the same dread attaching to the graves
of still-born children. Thus on a certain occasion, when one of the
Commissioners of Devonport complained that a charge of one shilling
and sixpence should have been made upon the parish authorities for
the grave and interment of a still-born child, he added that "when
he was a young man it was thought lucky to have a still-born child
put into an open grave, as it was considered to be a sure passport
to heaven for the next person buried there." According to another
superstitious notion, if a mother frets and pines after her baby when
it is dead, it is said that it cannot rest, and will come back to
earth again. Various stories are on record of children thus visiting
their mothers after death, an instance of which we quote from the
"Dialect of Leeds:"--It appears that soon after the birth of the
mother's next child, the previous one that had died entered her room
with eyes deeply sunken, as if with much weeping, and on approaching
the bed, said, "Mother, I can't rest if you will go on fretting."
She replied, "Well, lad, I wean't fret any more." He then looked
upon the bed and said, "Let's luke at it, mother!" She turned down
the coverlet and let him look at her new-born babe. "It'll die," he
said, and vanished. These, then, are some of the boundless dangers
and difficulties that are supposed to beset the beginnings of life;
and, taking into consideration the importance of that momentous
crisis, when a fresh actor is introduced upon the world's great
stage, it is not surprising that this event has, in most ages and
countries, been associated with divers superstitions, and given rise
to sundry customs, each of which has helped to invest man's entry
into this world with all that grandeur which such a solemn occasion
requires.