Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-02-01
English superistitions About In.
fants.

IsAA6ss
In the north and east of England,
nurses think it lucky for the child to
cry at its baptism they say that other
wise the baby shows thatit is too good
10 live. Some, however, declare that
this cry betokens the pang of the new
birth some that it Is the voice of the
evil spirit, as he is driven out by the
baptismal water. As Co the mother s
churning, 1t is very uncannie' for her
to enter any other house before going
90 church, and she carries ill-luck with
her. 1t is believed also that if she ap-
pears out Of doors under these circum-
stances, and receives any insults or
blows from her neighboFs. she has no
remedy at law. I am informed that
old custom enjoins Irish women to stay
at home till after their churching, as
rigidly as their Scotch and English
sisters. They have. however, their own
way of evading il. They viii pull
thatoh from their roof, OF take splin-
ter Of slate or tile off it, fasten this at
the top of their bonnet. and 60 where
they please, stoutly agerrIng afterwards
t0fthe priest, or any one else, that they
have not gone from under then own
roof. A pleasant little custom IS mem
toned in the Wilkie MS. the frst
child baptized by a minister after
his appointment to parish is to re-
-eeIYe 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 smooth and
beardleas face, and, still worse, the
young lady win surely be endowed
with the ornament he lacks. This be-
lief holds It's ground in Durham, and
extends as far north as the Orkney Is
lands One curious nursery practice
exists both in the north and iu-the ex-
'treme west Of England, that of leaving
the infants hand UrWashed and the
reason alleged is the same-that he
may gather riches. The baby's nails
must not be cut till he Is a year old, for
fear he sheUld grow, UPa thief, or as
they quantity express 10 In Cleveland,
flight-fDgered The mother must
bite them of, If need be !; and in the
west of Northumberland 1t is believed
that ii the first parings are buried IN
der an ash tree the child will tnrn out
top singer. The mention of the
ash is curious, for has 1t had not been
supplying in its sap the first nourish-
ment to the Grecian hero as now to the
Celtic HiRhiander 2 Nay. according
60 Hesiod, Genus made the third OF
brazen race of hard ash WoOds-pugna-
oious and terrible; as Yggdrasil, the
clOud-tree of the NOrseman, out OF
which he believed the first man
made, was an ash When the year Of
infancy is past, and baby's nails can
safely be given to the scissors, care
must be taken not to cut them on &
q Sunday or Friday. Friday, Of course
is an unlueky day, and as for Sunday
the old ryhme says:
's Better a child had ne'er been born
Than cut his nails on Sunday morn =
Another variation of the verse runs
thus /: e e U HAL
Friday hair, Sunday horn,
Better that child had ne'er been born.
And yet another
tfSunday shavenj Sunday shOrn,
Better hadst thou ne'er been born
Or, at length,
Cut them on Mondays cut them fe
Cut them on Tuesday, cut them fOl
wealth;
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them fol
news, zaTea e
Cut them for Thursday, 3 pair Of new
Cut tiletl on F'ridays. cut them for sor
row,
Cut them on Saturday q present TO NOR
row
But he that on Sunday cnts his horn
Better that he had never been boTnP'
Again, the Cleveland nurses say that
it is very important for an infant to "a
no ia the world before it goes down
Thus, If a child should be born in the
toD story Of a house, for want Of q
flight of stairs, enc of the Gossips viii
take 1t in hsr arms and mount a table
carries. / have heard of similar be-
lief in the Channel Islands. -