THE CHILD IN THE PRIMITIVE LABORATORY.
As if no mother had made you look nice.--_Proverbial Saying of Songish
Indians._
Spare the rod and spoil the child.--_Hebrew Proverb._
Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.--_Daniel_ v. 27.
He has lost his measure.--_German Saying._
_"Licking into Shape."_
Pope, in the _Dunciad_, has the well-known lines:--
"So watchful Bruin forms, with plastic care,
Each growing lump, and brings it to a bear,"
a conceit found in Burton, Montaigne, Byron, and other writers, and
based upon an old folk-belief that the cubs are born a formless lump
which the mother-bear has to "lick into shape." The same idea gave rise
to the "ours mal léché" of French, and our own colloquial expression "an
ill-licked cub." In an Alemanian lullaby sung while washing and combing
the child, occurs the following curious passage:--
"I bin e chleine Pumpernickel,
I bin e chleine Bär,
Und wie mi Gott erschaffe hät,
So wagglen ich derher,"
["I am a little Pumpernickel,
I am a little bear,
And just as God has fashioned me
I wiggle about,"]
which, perhaps, contains the same thought. In a recent article,
Professor E. W. Fay offers an etymology of the word "livid" which
facilitates the passage from animal to man: "_Lividus_ meant
'licked.' The word derives from an animal's licking hurts and sores on
the young. A mother of the human species still kisses (licks) a child's
hurt to make it well" (_Mod. Lang. Notes_, IX. 263). Who has not
had his mother say: "Does it hurt? Come and let me kiss it, and make it
well."
Moreover, Reclus tells us, "There are Esquimaux who go further in their
demonstrations of affection, and carrying their complaisance as far as
Mamma Puss and Mamma Bruin, lick their babies to clean them, lick them
well over from head to foot" (523. 38). Nor is it always the mother who
thus acts. Mantegazza observes: "I even know a very affectionate child,
who, without having learnt it from any one, licks the people to whom he
wishes to show friendship" (499. 144).
_Massage._
_Che nasce bella nasce maritata_,--"the girl born pretty is born
married,"--says the Italian proverb, and many devices there are among
primitive races to ensure the beauty which custom demands, but which
nature has failed to provide.
Among the Songish Indians of British Columbia, there is a saying: _Tôu
ô'wuna täns ksEtctcâ'ai_,--"as if no mother had made you look nice."
Doctor Boas describes the "making the child look nice" as follows (404.
20):--
"As soon as it is born, the mother rubs it from the mouth towards the
ears, so as to press the cheek-bones somewhat upward. The outer corners
of the eyes are pulled outward that they may not become round, which is
considered ill-looking. The calves of the legs are pressed backward and
upward, the knees are tied together to prevent the feet from turning
inward, the forehead is pressed down." Among the Nootka Indians,
according to the same authority: "Immediately after birth, the eyebrows
of the babe are pressed upward, its belly is pressed forward, and the
calves of the legs are squeezed from the ankles upward. All these
manipulations are believed to improve the appearance of the child. It is
believed that the pressing of the eyebrows will give them the peculiar
shape that may be noticed in all carvings of the Indians of the North
Pacific Coast. The squeezing of the legs is intended to produce slim
ankles" (404. 39).
The subject of the human physiognomy and physical characteristics in
folk-lore and folk-speech is a very entertaining one, and the practices
in vogue for beautifying these are legion and found all over the world
(204).
_Face-Games._
Some recollection of such procedure as that of the Songish Indians seems
to linger, perhaps, in the game, which Sicilian nurses play on the
baby's features. It consists in "lightly touching nose, mouth, eyes,
etc., giving a caress or slap to the chin," and repeating at the same
time the verses:--
"Varvaruttedu
Vucca d'aneddu,
Nasu affilatu,
Ocehi di stiddi
Frunti quatrata
E te 'ccà 'na timpulata."
In French we have corresponding to this:--
"Beau front
Petits yeux,
Nez can can,
Bouche d'argent,
Menton fleuri,
Chichirichi."
In Scotch:--
"Chin cherry,
Moo merry,
Nose nappie,
Ee winkie,
Broo brinkie,
Cock-up jinkie."
In English:--
"Eye winker,
Tom Tinker,
Nose dropper,
Mouth eater.
Chin chopper."
And cognate practices exist all over the globe (204. 21).
_Primitive Weighing._
"Worth his weight in gold" is an expression which has behind it a long
history of folk-thought. Professor Gaidoz, in his essay on _Ransom by
Weight_ (236), and Haberlandt, in his paper on the _Tulâpurusha,
Man-Weighing_ (248) of India, have shown to what extent has prevailed
in Europe and Asia the giving of one's weight in gold or other precious
substances by prisoners to their captors, in order to secure their
liberty, by devotees to the church, or to some saint, as a cure for, or
a preventitive of disease, or as an act of charity or of gratitude for
favours received.
The expression used of Belshazzar in Daniel v. 27, "Thou art weighed in
the balance, and found wanting" (and the analogue in Job xxxi. 6), has
been taken quite literally, and in Brittany, according to the Abbot of
Soissons, there was a Chapel of the Balances, "in which persons who came
to be cured miraculously, were weighed, to ascertain whether their
weight diminished when prayer was made by the monks in their behalf."
Brewer informs us that "Rohese, the mother of Thomas Becket, used to
weigh her boy every year on his birthday, against the money, clothes,
and provisions which she gave to the poor" (191.41). From Gregory of
Tours we learn that Charicus, King of the Suevi, when his son was ill,
"hearing of the miraculous power of the bones of St. Martin, had his son
weighed against gold and silver, and sent the amount to his sepulchre
and sanctuary at Tours" (236. 60).
Weighing of infants is looked upon with favour in some portions of
western Europe, and to the same source we may ultimately trace the
modern baby's card with the weight of the newcomer properly inscribed
upon it,--a fashion which bids fair to be a valuable anthropometric
adjunct. "Hefting the baby" has now taken on a more scientific aspect
than it had of yore.
The following curious custom of the eastern Eskimo is perhaps to be
mentioned here, a practice connected with their treatment of the sick.
"A stone weighing three or four pounds, according to the gravity of the
sickness, is placed by a matron under the pillow. Every morning she
weighs it, pronouncing meanwhile words of mystery. Thus she informs
herself of the state of the patient and his chances of recovery. If the
stone grows constantly heavier, it is because the sick man cannot
escape, and his days are numbered" (523. 39).
It is a far cry from Greenland to England, but there are connecting
links in respect of folk-practice. Mr. Dyer informs us that in the
parish church of Wingrove, near Ailesbury, as late as 1759, a certain
Mrs. Hammokes was accused of witchcraft, and her husband demanded the
"trial by the church Bible." So "she was solemnly conducted to the
parish church, where she was stript of all her clothes to her shift, and
weighed against the great parish Bible in the presence of all her
neighbours. The result was that, to the no small mortification of her
accuser, she outweighed the Bible, and was triumphantly acquitted of the
charge" (436. 307, 308).
How often has not woman, looked upon in the light of a child, been
subjected to the same practices and ceremonies!
_Primitive Measurements._
The etymology and original significance of our common English words,
_span_, _hand_, _foot_, _cubit_, _fathom_, and
their cognates and equivalents in other languages, to say nothing of the
self-explanatory _finger's breadth_, _arm's length_,
_knee-high_, _ankle-deep_, etc., go back to the same rude
anthropometry of prehistoric and primitive times, from which the classic
peoples of antiquity obtained their canons of proportion and symmetry of
the human body and its members. Among not a few primitive races it is
the child rather than the man that is measured, and we there meet with a
rude sort of anthropometric laboratory. From Ploss, who devotes a single
paragraph to "Measurements of the Body," we learn that these crude
measurements are of great importance in folk-medicine:--
"In Bohemia, the new-born child is usually measured by an old woman, who
measures all the limbs with a ribbon, and compares them with one
another; the hand, _e.g._, must be as long as the face. If the
right relations do not subsist, prayers and various superstitious
practices are resorted to in order to prevent the devil from injuring
the child, and the evil spirits are driven out of the house by means of
fumigation. In the case of sick children in Bohemia the measuring is
resorted to as a sympathetic cure. In other parts of Germany, on the
other hand, in Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, Oldenburg, it is thought
that measuring and weighing the new-born child may interfere with its
thriving and growth" (326. I. 302).
Sibree states that in Madagascar, at circumcision, the child is measured
and sprinkled with water (214. 6), and Ellis, in his history of that
island, gives the following details of the ceremony (_History of
Madagascar_, Vol. I. p. 182):--
"The children on whom the rite is to be performed are next led across
the blood of the animal just killed, to which some idea of sacredness is
attached. They are then placed on the west side of the house, and, as
they stand erect, a man holding a light cane in his hand, measures the
first child to the crown of the head, and at one stroke cuts off a piece
of the cane measured to that height, having first carefully dipped the
knife in the blood of the slaughtered sheep. The knife is again dipped
in the blood, and the child measured to the waist, when the cane is cut
to that height. He is afterwards measured to the knee with similar
results. The same ceremony is performed on all the children
successively. The meaning of this, if indeed any meaning can be attached
to it, seems to be the symbolical removal of all evils to which the
children might be exposed,--first from the head to the waist, then from
the waist to the knees, and finally, from the knees to the sole of the
foot."
The general question of the measurement of sick persons (not especially
children), and of the payment of an image or a rod of precious metal of
the height of a given person, or the height of his waist, shoulders,
knee, etc., of the person, in recompense for some insult or injury, has
been treated of by Grimm, Gaidoz, and Haberlandt. Gaidoz remarks (236.
74): "It is well known that in Catholic countries it is customary to
present the saints with votive offerings in wax, which are
representative of the sicknesses for which the saints are invoked; a wax
limb, or a wax eye, for instance, are representative of a sore limb or
of a sore eye, the cure of which is expected from the saint. Wax bodies
were offered in the same way, as we learn from a ludicrous story told by
Henri Estienne, a French writer of the sixteenth century. The story is
about a clever monk who made credulous parents believe he had saved
their child by his prayers, and he says to the father, 'Now your son is
safe, thanks to God; one hour ago I should not have thought you would
have kept him alive. But do you know what you are to do? You ought to
have a wax effigy of his own size made for the glory of God, and put it
before the image of the holy Ambrose, at whose intercession our Lord did
this favour to you.'" Even poorer people were in the habit of offering
wax candles of the height or of the weight of the sick person.
In 1888, M. Letourneau (299) called attention to the measurement of the
neck as a test of puberty, and even of the virginity of maidens. In
Brittany, "According to popular opinion, there is a close relation
between the volume of the neck and puberty, sometimes even the virginity
of girls. It is a common sight to see three young girls of uncertain age
measure in sport the circumference of the neck of one of them with a
thread. The two ends of this thread are placed between the teeth of the
subject, and the endeavour is made to make the loop of the thread pass
over the head. If the operation succeeds, the young girl is declared
'bonne à marier.'" MM. Hanoteau and Letourneau state that among the
Kabyles of Algeria a similar measurement is made of the male sex. In
Kabylia, where the attainment of the virile state brings on the
necessity of paying taxes and bearing arms, families not infrequently
endeavour to conceal the puberty of their young men. If such deceit is
suspected, recourse is had to the test of neck-measurement. Here again,
as in Brittany, if the loop formed by the thread whose two ends are held
in the teeth passes over the head, the young man is declared of age, and
enrolled among the citizens, whilst his family is punished by a fine. M.
Manouvrier also notes that the same test is also employed to discover
whether an adolescent is to be compelled to keep the fast of Rhamadan.
_Measurements of Limbs and Body._
M. Mahoudeau cites from Tillaux's _Anatomie topographique,_ and MM.
Perdrizet and Gaidoz in _Mélusine_ for 1893, quote from the
_Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturette et cabalistique du Petit
Albert_ (1743) extracts relating to this custom, which is also
referred to by the Roman writers C. Valerius, Catullus, Vossius, and
Scaliger. The subject is an interesting one, and merits further
investigation. Ellis (42. 233) has something to say on the matter from a
scientific point of view. Grimm has called attention to the very ancient
custom of measuring a patient, "partly by way of cure, partly to
ascertain if the malady were growing or abating." This practice is
frequently mentioned in the German poems and medical books of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In one case a woman says of her
husband, "I measured him till he forgot everything," and another,
desirous of persuading hers that he was not of sound mind, took the
measure of his length and across his head. In a Zürich Ms. of 1393,
"measuring" is included among the unchristian and forbidden things of
sorcery. In the region about Treves, a malady known as night-grip
(_Nachtgriff_) is ascertained to be present by the following
procedure: "Draw the sick man's belt about his naked body lengthwise and
breadthwise, then take it off and hang it on a nail with the words 'O
God, I pray thee, by the three virgins, Margarita, Maria Magdalena, and
Ursula, be pleased to vouchsafe a sign upon the sick man, if he have the
nightgrip or no'; then measure again, and if the belt be shorter than
before, it is a sign of the said sickness." In the Liegnitz country, in
1798, we are told there was hardly a village without its _messerin_
(measuress), an old woman, whose _modus operandi_ was this: "When
she is asked to say whether a person is in danger from consumption, she
takes a thread and measures the patient, first from head to heel, then
from tip to tip of the outspread arms; if his length be less than his
breadth then he is consumptive; the less the thread will measure his
arms, the farther has the disease advanced; if it reaches only to the
elbow, there is no hope for him. The measuring is repeated from time to
time; if the thread stretches and reaches its due length again, the
danger is removed. The wise woman must never ask money for her trouble,
but take what is given." In another part of Germany, "a woman is stript
naked and measured with a piece of red yarn spun on a Sunday."
Sembrzycki tells us that in the Elbing district, and elsewhere in that
portion of Prussia, the country people are firmly possessed by the idea
that a decrease in the measure of the body is the source of all sorts of
maladies. With an increase of sickness the hands and feet are believed
to lose more and more their just proportional relations one with
another, and it is believed that one can determine how much measure is
yet to be lost, how long the patient has yet to live. This belief has
given rise to the proverbial phrase _das Maas verlieren_--"to lose
one's measure" (462. III. 1163-5).
Not upon adults alone, however, were these measurements carried out, but
upon infants, children, and youths as well. Even in the New World, among
the more conservative of the population of Aryan origin, these customs
still nourish, as we learn from comparatively recent descriptions of
trustworthy investigators. Professor J. Howard Gore, in the course of an
interesting article on "The Go-Backs," belief in which is current among
the dwellers in the mountain regions of the State of Virginia, tells us
that when some one has suggested that "the baby has the 'go-backs,'" the
following process is gone through: "The mother then must go alone with
the babe to some old lady duly instructed in the art or science of
curing this blighting disease. She, taking the infant, divests it of its
clothing and places it on its back. Then, with a yarn string, she
measures its length or height from the crown of the head to the sole of
the heel, cutting off a piece which exactly represents this length. This
she applies to the foot, measuring off length by length, to see if the
piece of yarn contains the length of the foot an exact number of times.
This operation is watched by the mother with the greatest anxiety, for
on this coincidence of measure depends the child's weal or woe. If the
length of the string is an exact multiple of the length of the foot,
nothing is wrong, but if there is a remainder, however small, the baby
has the go-backs, and the extent of the malady is proportional to this
remainder. Of course in this measuring, the elasticity of the yarn is
not regarded, nor repetitions tried as a test of accuracy" (244. 108).
Moreover, "the string with which the determination was made must be hung
on the hinge of a gate on the premises of the infant's parents, and as
the string by gradual decay passes away, so passes away the 'go-backs.'
But if the string should be lost, the ailment will linger until a new
test is made and the string once more hung out to decay. Sometimes the
cure is hastened by fixing the string so that wear will come upon it."
Professor Gore aptly refers to the Latin proverb _ex pede
Herculem_, which arose from the calculation of Pythagoras, who from
the _stadium_ of 6000 feet laid out by Hercules for the Olympian
games, by using his own foot as the unit, obtained the length of the
foot of the mighty hero, whence he also deduced his height. We are not
told, however, as the author remarks, whether or not Hercules had the
"go-backs."
Among the white settlers of the Alleghanies between southwestern Georgia
and the Pennsylvania line, according to Mr. J. Hampden Porter, the
following custom is in vogue: "Measuring an infant, whose growth has
been arrested, with an elastic cord that requires to be stretched in
order to equal the child's length, will set it right again. If the spell
be a wasting one, take three strings of similar or unlike colours, tie
them to the front door or gate in such a manner that whenever either are
opened there is some wear and tear of the cords. As use begins to tell
upon them, vigour will recommence" (480. VII. 116). Similar practices
are reported from Central Europe by Sartori (392 (1895). 88), whose
article deals with the folk-lore of counting, weighing, and measuring.
_Tests of Physical Efficiency._
That certain rude tests of physical efficiency, bodily strength, and
power of endurance have been and are in use among primitive peoples,
especially at the birth of children, or soon after, or just before, at,
or after, puberty, is a well-known fact, further testified to by the
occurrence of these practices in folk-tales and fairy-stories. Lifting
stones, jumping over obstacles, throwing stones, spears, and the like,
crawling or creeping through holes in stones, rocks, or trees, have all
been in vogue, and some of them survive even to-day in England and in
other parts of Europe as popular tests of puberty and virginity. Mr.
Dyer, in his _Church Lore Gleanings_, mentions the "louping," or
"petting" stone at Belford, in Northumberland (England), a stone "placed
in the path outside the church porch, over which the bridal pair with
their attendants must leap"--the belief is that "the bride must leave
all her pets and humours behind her when she crosses it." At
High-Coquetdale, according to Mr. Henderson, in 1868, a bride was made
to jump over a stick held by two groomsmen at the church door (436.
125). Another very curious practice is connected with St. Wilfrid's
"needle" at Ripon Cathedral--said to be an imitation of the Basilican
transenna. Through this passage maidens who were accused of unchastity
crept in order to prove their innocence. If they could not pass through,
their guilt was presumed. It is also believed that "poor palsied folk
crept through in the expectation of being healed." At Boxley Church in
Kent, there was a "small figure of St. Rumbold, which only those could
lift who had never sinned in thought or deed" (436. 312, 313).
At a marriage among the Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island, the groom's
party essay feats like these: "Heavy weights are lifted; they try who is
the best jumper. A blanket with a hole in the centre is hung up, and men
walk up to it blindfolded from a distance of about twenty steps. When
they get near it they must point with their fingers towards the blanket,
and try to hit the hole. They also climb a pole, on top of which an
eagle's nest, or something representing an eagle's nest, is placed. The
winner of each game receives a number of blankets from the girl's
father. When the games are at an end, the groom's father distributes
blankets among the other party" (404. 43). This reminds us of the games
at picnics and social gatherings of our own people.
In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for January, 1895, S. O. Addy, in an
article entitled "English Surnames and Heredity," points out how the
etymologies give us some indications of the physical characteristics of
the persons on whom the names were conferred. In primitive times and
among the lower races names are even of more importance in this respect.
Clark says: "I have seen a baby not two days old snugly tied up in one
of these little sacks; the rope tied to the pommel of the saddle, the
sack hanging down alongside of the pony, and mother and child
comfortably jogging along, making a good day's march in bitter cold
winter weather, easily keeping up with a column of cavalry which was
after hostile Indians. After being carefully and firmly tied in the
cradle, the child, as a rule, is only taken out to be cleaned in the
morning, and again in the evening just before the inmates of a lodge go
to sleep; sometimes also in the middle of the day, but on the march only
morning and evening" (420. 57).
In his account of the habits of the Tarahumari Indians, Lumholtz
observes: "Heat never seems to trouble them. I have seen young babies
sleeping with uncovered heads on the backs of their mothers, exposed to
the fierce heat of the summer sun." The same writer tells us that once
he pulled six hairs at once from a sleeping child, "without causing the
least disturbance," and only when twenty-three had been extracted at
once did the child take notice, and then only scratched its head and
slept on (107. 297).
Colonel Dodge notes the following practice in vogue among the wild
Indians of the West:--
"While the child, either boy or girl, is very young, the mother has
entire charge, control, and management of it. It is soon taught not to
cry by a very summary process. When it attempts to 'set up a yell,' the
mother covers its mouth with the palm of her hand, grasps its nose
between her thumb and forefinger, and holds on until the little one is
nearly suffocated. It is then let go, to be seized and smothered again
at the first attempt to cry. The baby very soon comprehends that silence
is the best policy" (432.187).
Of the Indians of Lower California, who learn to stand and walk before
they are a year old, we are told on the authority of the missionary
Baegert: "When they are born they are cradled in the shell of a turtle
or on the ground. As soon as the child is a few months old, the mother
places it perfectly naked astraddle on her shoulders, its legs hanging
down on both sides in front. In this guise the mother roves about all
day, exposing her helpless charge to the hot rays of the sun and the
chilly winds that sweep over the inhospitable country" (306. 185).
_Sleep._
Curious indeed are some of the methods in use among primitive peoples to
induce sleep. According to Mr. Fraser, the natives of a village near the
banks of the Girree, in the Himalayan region of India, had the following
custom (_Quart. Rev._ XXIV. 109):--
"The mother, seizing the infant with both arms and aided by the knees,
gives it a violent whirling motion, that would seem rather calculated to
shake the child in pieces than to produce the effect of soft slumber;
but the result was unerring, and in a few seconds the child was fast
asleep."
Somewhat akin to this procedure is the practice our modern mothers and
nurses have of swinging the baby through a sort of semicircle in their
arms, accompanying it with the familiar song,--
"This way,
And that way," etc.
This song and action, their dolls doing duty as children, have been
introduced into the kindergarten, and even figure now in "doll-drills"
on the stage, and at church festivals and society entertainments.
Of the same village the author goes on to say:--
"Several straw sheds are constructed on a bank, above which a cold clear
stream is led to water their fields, and a small portion of this,
probably of three fingers' breadth, is brought into the shed by a hollow
stick or piece of bark, and falls from this spout into a small drain,
which carries it off about two feet below. The women bring their
children to these huts in the heat of the day, and having lulled them to
sleep and wrapt their bodies and feet warm in a blanket, they place them
on a small bench or tray horizontally, in such a way that the water
shall fall upon the crown of the head, just keeping the whole top wet
with its stream. We saw two under this operation, and several others
came in while we remained, to place their children in a similar way.
Males and females are equally used thus, and their sleep seemed sound
and unruffled."
_"Heroic Treatment."_
The Andamanese baby "within a few hours of its birth has its head shaved
and painted with _kòvob_--(an ochre-mixture), while its diminutive
face and body are adorned with a design in _tiela-og_--(white
clay); this latter, as may be supposed, is soon obliterated, and
requires therefore to be constantly renewed." We are further informed
that before shaving an infant, "the mother usually moistens the head
with milk which she presses from her breast," while with older children
and adults water serves for this purpose (498. 114).
The "heroic treatment," meted out by primitive peoples to children, as
they approach puberty, has been discussed in detail by Ploss, Kulischer,
Daniels. Religion and the desire to attract the affection or attention
of the other sex seem to lie very close to the fundamental reasons for
many of these practices, as Westermarck points out in his chapter on the
"Means of Attraction." (166. 165-212). A divine origin is often ascribed
to these strange mutilations. "The Australian Dieyerie, on being asked
why he knocks out two front teeth of the upper jaw of his children, can
answer only that, when they were created, the Muranaura, a good spirit,
thus disfigured the first child, and, pleased at the sight, commanded
that the like should be done to every male or female child for ever
after. The Pelew Islanders believe that the perforation of the septum of
the nose is necessary for winning eternal bliss; and the Nicaraguans say
that their ancestors were instructed by the gods to flatten their
children's heads. Again, in Fiji it is supposed that the custom of
tattooing is in conformity with the appointment of the god Dengei, and
that its neglect is punished after death. A similar idea prevails among
the Kingsmill Islanders and Ainos; and the Greenlanders formerly
believed that the heads of those girls who had not been deformed by long
stitches made with a needle and black thread between the eyes, on the
forehead, and upon the chin, would be turned into train tubs and placed
under the lamps in heaven, in the land of souls" (165. 170, 171).
Were all the details of the fairy-tales true, which abound in every
land, the cruelty meted out to the child suspected of being a changeling
would surpass human belief. Hartland enumerates the following procedures
as having been in use, according to legend, to determine the justice of
the suspicion: Flinging the child on a dung-heap; putting in the oven;
holding a red-hot shovel before the child's face; heating a poker
red-hot to mark a cross on its forehead; heating the tongs red-hot to
seize it by the nose; throwing on, or into, the fire; suspending over
the fire in a pot; throwing the child naked on the glowing embers at
midnight; throwing into lake, river, or sea (258. 120-123). These and
many more figure in story, and not a few of them seem to have been
actually practised upon the helpless creatures, who, like the heathen,
were not supposed to call for pity or love. Mr. Hartland cites a case of
actual attempt to treat a supposed changeling in a summary manner, which
occurred no later than May 17,1884, in the town of Clonmel, Ireland. In
the absence of the mother of a three-year-old child (fancied by the
neighbours to be a changeling), two women "entered her house and placed
the child naked on a hot shovel, 'under the impression that it would
break the charm,'"--the only result being, of course, that the infant
was very severely burned (258. 121).
On the other hand, children of true Christian origin, infants who
afterwards become saints, are subject to all sorts of torment at the
hands of Satan and his angels, at times, but come forth, like the
"children" of the fiery furnace in the time of Daniel, in imitation of
whose story many of the hagiological legends have doubtless been put
forth, unscathed from fire, boiling water, roaring torrents, and other
perilous or deadly situations (191. 9,122).