The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-10-02

sizing Jncrc. Ills cndriIlS WcIc Oniy
potent in the month of May. He fur
Their required his patients to have their
eyes fixed upon the new May moon
while they received from his hands
boxes of ointment made from herbs
gathered when the moon was full. On
one occasion as many as two hundred
persons waited to be charmed. In Stat
fordshire a remedy for whooping-cough
consists in taking out the child to let it
see the new moon, at the same time
rubbing its stomach and repeating the
following invocation:
sWhat / see, may it increase;
What feel, may it decrease;
In the name. of the Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, Amen"
In Cornwall the club-moss, if properly
gathered, is considered good against
all diseases of the eyes," The gather
ing is regarded as mystery, and If any
man ventures to write the secret, the
virtues of the moss avail him no more.
In spite of this, however, some one has
boldly revealed to us this wonderful
secret, the mystery of which to quote
his own words, is this: ION the third
day of the moon, when the thin crescent
is seen for the first time show it the
knife with which the moss is to be cut
and say:
I" As Christ healed the issue Of blood,
Do thus cut what thou cuttest for good"
At shutdown, having carefully washed
the hands, the club-moss is to be cut
kneeling. 1t is to be carefully wrapped
in fine linen cloth, and subsequently
boiled in some water taken from the
spring nearest to its place of growth.
This may be used as a fermentation, or
the club-moss may be made into an ONT
ment with butter made from the milk
of new cow. In Devonshire the hair
and nails should always be cut during
the waning of the MOON. and persons
troubled with corns are recommended
to cut them after the moon has been at
its full. -sae
When the moons horns appear to
point upward, it is said by the weather
wise to be like boat, and in many parts
there is an idea that when it is thus sit
uated there will be no rain-a super
stition which George Eliot describes in
i" Adam Bede:" lit ID ha' been bet
ter luck if they'd ha' buried him i the
forenoon, when the rain was fallin';
there's no likelihood of a drop now,-
An the moon lies like boat there.
That's sure sign of fair weather."
According to sailors, when the moon is
in this position it denotes fine weather,
for, to use their phrase, 90 You might
hang your hat upon it." In Liverpool,
however, it is considered a sign of foul
weather, as the moon is now considered
to be like basin full of water about to
fall. The Scotch proverb expressive of
the same fancy inculcates the following
admonition:
The honey moon is on her back;
Mend your shoes and sort your thack.r
Whenever planet or large star is seen
near the moon it is said by sea-faring
men to prognosticate boisterous wealth.
err, for, to make use of their term, IA
big star is logging the moon.' " Some
years ago. says correspondent of
Notes and Queries, ga fisherman of
Torquay told me, after violent gale,
that he had forseen the storm, as he
had observed one star ahead of the
moon towing her ana another astern
chasing her."
The moons eclipse has been from
the earliest times held as ominous, and
hence just as unlucky for lawful enter
prises as suitable for evil designs. The
Romans supposed it resulted from the
influence of magic charms, to counter
act which they had recourse to the
sound of brazen implements of all kinds.
Shakespeare, too, in the Tempest (Act ",
scene ~, mentions the notion of witch
es being able to influence the moon by
their incantations:
Ellis mother was witch; and one so strong
That could control the moon"
The Chinese believe that during eclipses
of the sun and moon these celestial
bodies are attacked by great serpent
Ito drive away which they strike their
gongs or brazen drums-an opinion
shared also by the Turks. Brand quotes
an old authority, who says that in form
er times the Irish and Welsh. during
eclipses, ran about beating kettles and
pans, thinking that their clamor might
be available in assisting the higher orbs.