_Charm for the Toothache._--The charm which one of your correspondents
has proved to be in use in the south-eastern counties of England, and
another has shown to be practised at Kilkenny, was also known more than
thirty years ago in the north of Scotland. At that time I was a
school-boy at Aberdeen, and a sufferer--probably it was in March or
April, with an easterly wind--from toothache. A worthy Scotchwoman told
me, that the way to be cured of my toothache was to find a charm for it
in the Bible. I averred, as your correspondent the curate did, that I
could not find any such charm. My adviser then repeated to me the charm,
which I wrote down from her dictation. Kind soul! she could not write
herself. It was pretty nearly in the words which your correspondent has
sent you. According to my recollection, it ran thus:--"Peter sat upon a
stone, weeping. And the Lord said unto him, 'Peter, why weepest thou?'
And he answered, and said, 'Lord, my tooth acheth.' And the Lord said
unto him, 'Arise, Peter, thy teeth shall ache no more.'" "Now,"
continued my instructress, "if you gang home and put yon bit screen into
your Bible, you'll never be able to say again that you canna find a
charm agin the toothache i' the Bible." This was her version of the
matter, and I have no doubt it was the orthodox one; for, although one
of the most benevolent old souls I ever knew, she was also one of the
most ignorant and superstitious. I kept the written paper, not in my
Bible, but in an old pocket-book for many years, but it has disappeared.