The American patriot., 1854-12-27
POPULAR. sUpERSTITIONs.

POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.
The following Is = very quaint and diverting
list Of the Sympathetic Superstitions which were
'nco deyoutly believed inyby thousands andahou.
sands Of the.human race:
When women boil yarn, ahey must tell . lie at
Inc same time, otherwise it wilnot get whites
Psrents must not buy their children any rattles,
nor allow any TO be given to than or they will be
slow at learning, andwill speak with difficulty.
When you take straw for q hens nest out of q
marriage bed, you must take it from the mans
side If you want cock chickens, and from the
wife's if you want hen chickens. .sng'sH
:. No one must on any account weigh an empty
cradle, or he will weigh the child's rest away.
The nails on the hands of an infant must be
bitten off by the mother for the first time, OF it
will iearn to steal 9 'sanes9d - bas''sa
If you wish child to become hundred years
old, you must get it godathers out Of three diff
ferent parishes. g * ? - - MAs4
II you let q child look into looking-glass be.
fore II is year old, it will become proud. -
Children that cry at christening will die soon.
Let mother 60 three Sundays successfully out
of the church in silence, and blow each time into
the mouth of the child and it will get its teeth
easy. {-g'
Let the father Immediately after the christen-
ing give the child a sword in its hand, and twill
become brave s3g - e .ariq "a III q!ns
Blue cornAowers gathered on Corpus Christi
Sunday stop the bleeding atrthe nose, if they are
held in the hand tin warm. ~ ''''
Elder planted before ths stablc-door preserves
the cattle from witchcraft. Uf
A woman can cure her ear-ache by binding
mans stocking around her head.
He who carries about him cord with which a
rupture doctor has bound up rupture may lift
the heaviest weight without any danger.
piece of wood out of coffin that has been
dug up when laid in a cabbage-bed, defends it
from caterpillars. ~ 81 sr,i-sl ,,t.,sss-.77
One should not lean over a cradle where child
is sleeping, nor should it be left standing open.
Spinters from an oak split by lightning cure
toothache. -...-.,.
nj He who would SOW seed, let him be careful not
to let it lie on table, otherwise it will not grow.
He who has the hiccup, let him plunge naked
knife into a can Of beer, and take good draught
of it at one breath. s.sst5M
Ho who cannot sleep, be it child or adult, let
him lay composing wisp under his pillow, that
is, straw whicl workmen put under the burdens
taken from the people unknown to- them.
In brewing, lay a bunch Of nettles in the bar
rel; it is then safe against thunder.
A wife who has a cold must sneezc into her
husbands shoe. .'s
1t is not good to strike a Beast with switch
wqich has been used to correct child Z I '''''o
Chastise neither man nor beast with peeled
stick, for whatever is beaten with it will dry up
When you place your shoes reversed at the
head of your bed, the nightmare cannot oppress
Old women often cut turf of foot long
which their enemy has lately trodden, and hang it
up in the chimney, and their enemy must wither
away. Ii .ss.sr'J
Let any one who has great anxiety touch the
great toe of dead person, and he will at once
become free from it. --t.h ..,,.-.,.t
If any one dies in the house, you must shake
the beehive and the wine and vinegar, or the
g The first medicine which a lyng-n womon
takes, should be out of her husbands spoon; it
will then be moro efficacious. 7siqo ci 1fa.a ,y
During the pains of child birth, it does good to
turn the slippers Of the husband round round.
Three grains of salt in measure of milk pre-
serves it from witchcraft. 5ei~9a. III l,,-..
No one must taste }he first warm beer which is
given to lying-in woman it must be tried with
the finger, otherwise the woman will be attacked
with collie. 3di far.i .9a t tiip u.s.
If a child has the red-gum, take a piece of
wood from mil-wheel burn it, and smoke the
chlds swaddling- herewith; then wash
the child with water that flows from the wheel.
The water that remains must be cast into running
water
Yon should never wcan a child while trees arc
in blossom otherwise it will have gray hai;.
Three buttsns bound together with thread,
and laid in a coffin will free from warts.
If any one has received bodily hurt, wash him
with brook water while the bell is tolling for a
funeral. .a- .
The POpuLANloN OF CALIroRNlA.-The increase
of population in California is beyond all prece-
dent. The official returns of the recent election