Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-06-04

tneory stilt further, holding IL untucky 70
marry except under growing moon. A
sceptical writer, sneering at one Of those
who might have boasted like Falstaff, we
be men of good government, being governed
as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mis-
tress, the moon,' says: When the moon is
in Taurus, he can never be persuaded to
take physic; lest that animal which chews
the cud, should make him cast up again.
If at any time he has mind to be admit
ted into the presence of prince, he
will wait till the moon is in conjunction
with the sun, for tits then the society OF an
inferior with superior is salutary and
successful
Tiberius hoped to stave off badness by
never permitting the barber to shear his
imperial locks except at full moon. The
Roman emperor was evidently as earnest
a believer in the ruling power of Luna, as
the Duke in Measure for Measure, who
tells Claudio
Thou art not certain,
For thy complexion shifts to strange eff ects
After the moon;
or as the fair Olivia, who answers the
greeting of her lovers ambassador with
If you be mad, begone you have rea-
son, be brief tits not that time of moon
with me, to make one in so skipping
dialogue Othello, too, makes the moon
responsible for his rash deed:
1t is the very error of the moon;
She comes more near the earth than is her wont,
And makes men mad.
Although our mad-doctors have long
Tod fha of hoip
influenced in any way by the planet from
which they take their name, it was held by
men of note like Mead and Hunter. The
latter was strong in the belief that the
moon exercised considerable influence over
the human body, particularly when at the
full. 1t is strange, but true as gospel,
wrote the great soldier, Napier. from
Scinde, that at every new and full moon,
down we all 20 here with fever In tropi-
cal countries, where meat exposed IN
the moonlight turns putrid, the beams
the moon work harm to those who sleep
beneath them. The sun shall not smite
thee by day, nor the moon by night says
the Psalmist. Captain Burton tells US
that many Brazilian negro, taking nap
incautiously in the moonlight, awakes with
one side of his face different color from
the other. A Mr.. Perry, supposed to
have been lost in the bush, turned up at
Brisbane in very miserable plight. He had
been blinded by sleeping under the rays of
the moon, and wandered about for five
days, until his sight became sufficiently re-
stored to enable him to find the homeward
track. The sailors of Southern Italy
maintain that the beams Of the noon are
fatal to the fish they shine upon, and are
careful to shelter those they catch from
the moonlight, lest they should become pu-
trid.
1T was once, and still may be, the Gus
tom of Highland women to salute the new
moon with a solemn courtesy. English
country danes were wont to sit astride a
stile or gate, waiting the new moons
appearance, to welcome her with, "A fine
moon, God bless her, Bachelors were
privileged to claim kiss aud pair of
gloves upon announcing the advent of a
new moon to the first maiden they met. If
when first seen, the new moon was upon
the right hand, or directly before the per-
son making her acquaintance, good fortune
awaited the lucky individual on the ensu
ing month; just the contrary result follow
ing its appearance on the left hand, or at
his or her back. To see a new moon for
the first time through glass, is ominous OF
ill. To insure good fortune, one ought, at
sight of her ladyship, to turn over ones
money and wish. At the inquest upon the
victims of the railway accident at Harrow,
in November, 1870, a juryman said his
son was in meadow close by at the time
of the collision, and saw the new moon
shining brightly; and having knack of
turning over his money wien he saw the
moon, he did SO, and counted it easily By
her light. To render the charm complete,
the money should be spit upon. When
Mungo Park visited the Mandingoes, he
found a very similar superstition preva-
lent among them. Upon the rising of the
new moon, they always prayed in whisper
spat upon their hands, and then rubbed
their faces with them. The Mussulmans
of Turkestan shake off their sins every
month by the simple process of jumping up
and down seven times with their faces
turned towards the new moon.
Berkshire lasses used to 90 out into the |
fields, and cry to the new moon:
New moon, new moon, l hail thee
BY all the virtue IN thy body;
Grant this night that may
He who my true love is TO be.
In Scotland, it was only the first new moon
of the new year that was appealed to in
this fashion; to obtain success, it was nee
essary to set the back against tree, and
the feet upon ground-fast stone, and sing
or say:
o new moon hail theei
And gf Pm eer to marry man
Or man to marry me
His face turned this way flst'S ye
Let me my true love /
This blessed night.
And if the invoker was destined to be
married, the ,apparition of her future
guidman would wait upon her before
morning. Yorkshire girls have another
way of hailing the first new moon Of the
year; they take care to see her in look
ng glass, and know they will have to
remain single as many years as they
behold moons. Matrimonial OWNERS of
course wish to see as few moons as posi-
Die, holding the more moons, the worse
uck. The sight Of more than one moon