The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-14

be only thought that the case was an obstinate
one" What will say 2" I" If We leeye, We
leeve an if ye dee, ye dee an the dell cares
whether We leeve or dee" She tried it; and
her success was beyond all expectation. So
many poor people, who kept but a single COW,
were as anxious about her thrift as that of a
child. If she were but stung by the cleg, they
must apply to the cow-doctor. The result was.
that in nine-tenths of the cases she was called
to, there was nothing the matter with the ami
NAL Her fee was trifiing, but her practice was
so extensive that she made handsome in
come. As her fame increased, she was called
on to charm human patients as well as bestiaL
In this her success was even greater, for she
travelled round so much that she knew all the
scandal of the country, and could give dish of
discourse that would make any man well, who
was not too sick to listen to it. At length, her
brother himself got sick, and sent for her.
With grave face she approached, and stoop-
ing down, whispered in his ear. "If ye leeve,
We leeve; and if ye dee, We dee an the dell
cares whether ye leeve or Dee" With other
patients she was careful not to whisper too
loud, but, as he knew the secret, she let him
hear her, and it was well she did, because now,
for the first in long time, he remember
ed the ludicrous advice he had given her, and
burst into a loud laugh. His disease was an
abscess the liver which burst with the vio-
ence of the laugh. He got well, and his sis
ter's reputation was established at home as
well as abroad.
Robbing cows of their milk was the CON-
monest kind of witchcraft. The best mich cows
would often go nearly dry. But, although they
gave but little milk, that little they would con-
tinue to give. They would neither milk decent
| ly nor go dry entirely in order to get fat To
counterfeit this, there was class of conjurers,
/ H.. IL 4
self, and making charm kill charm. The usual
mode of procedure was, to take pot of water,
and put three kinds of metal in it, commonly
pin of brass, a needle of steel, and piece of
silver. The doors and windows being well Sc
cured, they dipped rag in the pot, and
wVng the water ont of it. Every drop of water
they wrung from the rag, drop of blood was
forced from the witch's heart. She was soon
seen, with glaring blood shot eyeballs and dis
torted features, scrabbling furiously at the door
or windows. If she could get in, and take the
pot off the fire. she would soon kill the operator.
If she could not get in, she would soon begin to
beg, and agree to any terms.
A lady of undoubted veracity once told me
that an uncle of hers had seen a snow-white
hare skipping around the 1oor of his byre or
constable. He shot at her several times, and,
although good shot, always missed. At
length, it occurred to him that it might be a
witch that had come in this guise to suck the
cows. He Immediately put silver piece in
his gun, and fired again. She lmped away,
but he soon learned that he had shot woman.
Many of my readers will hesitate about believ-
ing this, bnt don't. hare might readily be
white without being filled with milk. In hard
winters they turned gray, and sometimes even
white. In such winter, too, emboldened by
hunger, they would approach the barn to nip
the cabbage leaves which the cows ate. If a
marksman imagined that he might be possibly
shooting at human being, his hand, however
steady, would be apt to tremble, and if he af.
forwards heard that some suspected old woman
was sick, he would take it for granted that his
silver ban had w,sa,'acta h---- ---------
/ have already noticed that the tories, who
haunted the mountains, courted the favor of the
common people. AS they possessed false keys
and other facilities, it would be easy for them
to enter houses. This, however, they could not
easily d. without at least exciting suspicion,
but they could enter barns, and milk the cows
with perfect safety, so long as it was blamed on
the poor witches. In later times, smugglers,
who had pits and secret retreats for concealing
contraband liquor, carried on the same trade,
for they were fond of the milk of the COW as
well as the Juice of the still. Their friends
protested the art of conjuring, and when they
got good fee, they could give intimation to
their friends to forage in a new place.
Near the Faughan water, I'M county Derry,
there was a haunted house. Voices out of the
wall and chimney alarmed the family all hours
of the day, and especially of the night. The
minister came to see them, and prayed that
the enemy might be silenced. Ha f" said
the voice, "you might as well bid Nebuchad-
nezzar." AS he sat by the fire, his boot flew
off his foot, struck him in the face, and re-
placed itself on his foot.
Finally he hired a professor Of the black art
to clear the house for fifty pounds. He took
a candle and went alone into dark room.
Presently the apartment was full of spiteful-
looking brown dwarfs, who surrounded him,
saying, "What do you acdnt? What do you
want? Say! tell me ! What do you want ~
He would answer OH keep still, and Ill tell
you in minute. The candle got DINNER and
DINNER. The little things began to encourage
one another to attack him. But soon the charm
was completed, and the elves retreated with a
doeful cry, which was heard away down deep
under the ground, and the candle again burned
brightly. The conjurer said he would not do
it again for hundred pounds. How much
ventriloquism might have been employed, either
in the cause or cure, the reader must judge for
himself, as 1 know nothing about it.
! In county Tyrone there lived very wicked
man. He betrayed girls when he was young,
he ground the faces of the poor when DID, and,
whether young old, he was desperately pro-
fame. Sometimes he drove away the officers,
and other times he bribed them, so that what
ever his crimes might be, he escaped punish
ment At length. there came an officer who
could be neithe. RESISTED nor corrupted, and
death laid the old sinner on his back. But
scarcely was he laid out, when the attendants
were horror struck to find that the devil, unsat-
is6ed with his soul, was proceeding to take
possession of the body. The eyes began to
open, and every now and then the CHASTITY
corpse would grin at the by-standers. lin terror
they sent off for the minister. When the holy
man arrived, the body had raised partly up On
the appearance of the clergyman, the devil
made his escape, and the corpse was hastily in
TERED.
The belief in fairies and elves was a relic of
druidism, yet, strange to say, it survived not
only conversion from paganism, but also the
reformation from Popery. The fairies were
benevolent spirits of grade inferior to COM
mon gods. They could make themselves visi-
BILE or invisible to mortal eyes, at pleasure.
Their form was that of babe, with yellow
curling hair and blue laughing eyes.
| "Their breath was like The fragran, gale
| From Towering beds Of thyme"
Their voice was soft as the aolian harp, and
their very conversational tones were music.
They delighted in old ruins, where the ivy crept
over the dilapidated walls, and the long grass
grew up among the crumbling marble. About
twilight of summer evening, they could be
seen, or at least heard, dancing in such places
with childhood's happy glee. Their ordinary
dwelling was under lofty mountains, in mag
ni6cent grottoes, ornamented with gems and
L. Al l. Al