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Page 41
It was unlucky to walk under a ladder set up against a wall, but if
passing under it could not be avoided, then, if before doing so, you
wished for anything, your wish would be fulfilled.
It was unlucky to eat twin nuts found in one shell.
If the eye or nose itched, it was a sign that the person so affected
would be vexed in some way that day. If the foot itched, it was a sign
that the owner of the foot was about to undertake a strange journey. If
the elbow itched, it betokened the coming of a strange bedfellow. If the
right hand itched, it signified that money would shortly be received by
it; and, if the left hand itched, that money would shortly have to be
paid away.
If the ear tingled, it was a sign that some one was speaking of the
person so affected. If it were the right ear which did so, then the
speech was favourable; if the left ear, the reverse. In this latter
case, if the persons whose ears tingled were to bite their little
fingers, this would cause the persons speaking evil of them to bite
their tongues.
To break a looking-glass, hanging against a wall, was a sign that death
would shortly occur in the family.
If a daughter's petticoat was longer than her frock, it shewed that her
father loved her better than her mother did.
If you desired luck with any article of dress, it should be worn first
at church.
If a person unwittingly put on an article of dress outside in, it was an
omen that he or she would succeed in what they undertook that day; but
it was requisite that this portion of dress should remain with the wrong
side out until night, for, if reversed earlier, the luck was reversed
also.
To weigh children was considered an objectionable practice, as it was
believed to injure their health, and cause them to grow up weakly.
If a child cut the upper teeth before the lower, it was very unlucky for
the child.
If a cradle were rocked when the child was not in it, it was said to
give the child a headache; but if it so happened that the child was too
old to be rocked in a cradle, but its baby clothes were still in the
house, then this incident portended that its mother would have another
baby.
To make a present of a knife or a pair of scissors, and refuse to accept
anything in return, was said to cut or sever friendship between giver
and receiver.
If, at a social gathering, a bachelor or maid were placed inadvertently
betwixt a man and his wife, the person so seated would be married within
a year.
If a person in rising from table overturned his chair, this shewed that
he had been speaking untruths.
To feel a cold tremor along the spine was a sign that some one was
treading on the spot of earth in which the person so affected would be
buried.
If a person spoke aloud to himself, it was a sign that he would meet
with a violent death.
If a girl married a man the initial letter of whose name was the same as
her own, it was held that the union would not be a happy one. This
notion was formulated into this proverb--
"To change the name and not the letter.
Is a change for the worse, and not for the better."
If thirteen people sat down to dinner, the first who rose from table
would, it was said, either die or meet with some terrible calamity
within a year's time.
When burning caking coal it often happens that a small piece of fused
matter is projected from the fire. When this took place the piece was
searched for and examined, and from its shape certain events were
prognosticated concerning the person in whose direction it had fallen.
If shaped like a coffin it presaged death, if like a cradle it foretold
a birth. I have seen such an incident produce a considerable sensation
among a group sitting round a fire.
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