The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-01

book has been published in England en-
titled Notes on the Folk Lore OF the Northern
Counties of England aud the Borders" by Will
liam Henderson, with an appendix on House
hold Stories, by s baring-GOuld, M. A. We
quote an extract from this book, which, as an
illustration of the folk lore OF baptism and
babies, may be of interest to the ladies:-
In the North, as in the South of England,
nurses think it lucky for the chlld to cry at its
baptism; they say that otherwise the baby
shows that 1t is too good to live. Some, how.
ever, declare that this cry betokens the pang of
the new birth; some, that 1t is the voice OF the
evil spirit, as he is driven out by the baptismal
water.
As to the mothers churching, it is very ''un-
Cannie" for her TO enter any other house before
she goes to church. and she carries ill-luck with
her. 1t is believed also that if she appears out
OF doors under the circumstances, and receives
any insults or blows from her neighbOrs, she
has no remedy at law. | am informed that old
Irish custom enjoins Irish women to stay at
home till after their churchlng, as rigidly as
their Scotch or English sisters. They have,
however, their own way of evadng it, They
will pull little thatch from their roof, or take
a splinter of slate or tile Off it, fasten this at
the top of their bonnet, and go where they
please, stoutly averring atterward to the priest,
or any one else, that they have not gone from
under their own roof.
A pleasant little custom is mentioned in the
Wilkie MS; the first child baptized by minister
after his appointment to a parish is to receive
his Christian name. Through the north of
England, if boy and girl are brought together
to the font, care must be taken that the former
be Christened first; else he is condemned to bear
through life a smooth and beardess face, and,
still worse, the young lady will surely be en-
dOwed with the ornament he lacks. This belief
holds it's ground in Durham and extends as far
north as the Orkney Islands. One curious nur-
sery practice exists both in the north and the
extreme west of ENGLAND, that of leaving an
infant's right hand unwashed; and the reason
alleged is the same that he may gather riches.
The baby's nails must not be cut till he is year
old, for fear he should grow up thief, or, as
they quantity express it in Cleveland, light
fingered" The mother must bite them of, II
need be; and in the west of Northumberland 1t
is believed that if the first parings are buried
under an ash tree, the child will turn out "a top
singer"
The mention of the ash is curious, for has it
not been from very ancient times sacred tree,
supplying in its sap the first nourishment to the
Grecian hero, as now to the Celtic Highlanders?
Nay, according to Hesiod, Zeus made the third
or brazcn race of hard ashwOo0-pugnacious
and terrible; as Yggdrasil, the cloud-tree OF the
Norseman, out of which he believed the first
man was made, was an ash. When the year OF
infancy is past, and baby's nails may be safely
given up to the SCISSORS, care must be taken not
TO cut them on a Sunday or Friday. Friday, of
course, is an unlucky day, and as for Sunday,
the old rhyme says:-
"Better child had ne'er been born
Than cut his nails on Sunday mornp
Another variation of the verse runs thus
"Friday hair, Sunday horn,
Better that child had ne'er been born.
And yet another:-
Sunday shaven Sunday shorn,
Better hadst thou ne'er been born!
Or, at greater length
Cut them on Monday cut them for health.
Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth.
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news;
Cut them on Thursday, new pair of shoes
Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow:
Cut them on Saturday present tomorrow;
But he that on Sunday cuts his horn
Better that he had never been born"
Again, the Cleveland nurses say that it is very
important for an infant to 90 up IN the world
before il goes down. Thus, if a child should be
born in the top story of a house, for want of a
fight of stairs, one OF the gossips will take it in
her arms, and mount table, chair, or chest o
drawers, before she carries it down stairs.
have heard of similar belief In the Channe
Islands.