The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-11-13
THE EFFICACY OF CHARMS.
AN AGREEAELE SUBSTITUTE FOR
NAUsEATING MEDICINE.
Strange SupcrNtitioms of English
Farmers settled i'm Pennsylvania
Some of Their Queer Beliefs.

q number of emigrants from Devonshire,
Lancaster, Cornwall Yorkshire, and
other counties of England settled in
Northern Pennsylvania, near the New
| York State line. They have made some
of the finest farms in the State, and are
the best of citizens, but many of them cling
with singular tenacity to strange belief
in the efficacy of certain charms that
have been used for centuries among the
class to which they belonged in Eng
land. The charmed ring cure for cpl
| lepsy is one of these. Only few days
ago a jeweler at Honesdale was called
upon by a resident of the settlement
who had with him his daughter, n sickly
J girl of fifteen. The girl produced nine
English two-pcnny pieces from which
the jeweler was requested to make ring
to fit the girls middle finger. 1t was
necessary, the farmer said, that portion
of each coin should be used and the rest
of the pieces saved and returned to
his daughter. The coins were given her
by nine boys, as near her own age as
could be found, which would give to the
ring charm which, when she put it on
would cure her of epilepsy, from which
she was suffering. This he maintained
was a cure that was always tried in De-
vonshire and never failed. If the victim
of epilepsy was male, the nine coins
must be presented by nine females.
Some of these farmers keep the skins
of adders in or on their houses and
buildings, believing them to be a certain
charm against fire. TO cure ague the
patient is taken to spot where two
roads cross, and an oak tree is found as
fba ,,Occii,la A lOrlr IF hi
hair is lifted up and driven into the tree
with an ash peg. The patient must then
tear himself loose, leaving the hair stick
ing in the tree, and walk away without
looking behind him. Sufferers with cry
sipelas by wearing in a silken bag
around their neck toad from which the
right hind leg and the left fore leg has
been cut until the mutilated reptile dies
will get well of the disease. The tongue
cut from living fox, these charm be-
levers say, carried about the person will
ward off disease of all kinds, but as the
person carrying one of these fox tongues
will surely die if he should happen to
meet a fox at any crossroads the charm
is seldom invoked. One old resident of
the settlement carries in his pocket con-
stantly an immense tooth from human
jaw. The tooth, he says, was taken
from the mouth of a man who was
hanged in Hcrtfordshirc more than a
hundred years ago after the man was
dead, and was carried by the present
owners father, grandfather, and great
grandfather. 1t is carried as a preventive
of toothache, the tooth from the dead
persons mouth heing certain charm
against that malady. The owner of the
tooth says he never had the toothache in
his life. A double hazclnut carried in
the pocket or about the person is also a
preventive of the disease.
The charms for the dispersion of warts
believed in by many Of these honest
farmers, are numerous and most singu-
lar. For instance, if a person with
warts on his or her hands will write
down the number Of them on the band
of a tramp's hat without the tramp
knowing it, he will carry the warts away
with him-that is they will gradually dis
appear from the person hands and appear
on those of the tramp. By cutting a
notch on green elder stick for every
wart a person may have, rubbing the
tick on every wart, and then burying
it in the barnyard until it rots, the warts
may be cured. Warts may also be re.
moved by taking black snail, rubbing
it on all the warts at night, and impal
ing the snail on thorn bush, repeating
the process nine successive nights, by
which time the warts and the snail will
both be shrivcled up. Another way tC
! get rid of warts is for person to see {
funeral pass Unexpectedly, wherever he
may be, and as it passes rub his wart:
quickly and repeat the words "Wart.
and corpse pass away and never moro
return" Green peas may also be used
to advantage in taking off warts Let
the afflicted person take as many peas a,
LIE has warts and touch each wart with
different pea. lie must then wrap eacl
pea in a separate piece of paper and
4 bury them secretly in the shade of an
ash tree or under hazel bush. If pea
are not in season and the person witt
warts does not care to try the cflicac,
of any of the above named charms
let him select as many pebbles as h,
wants. Sewing them up in small bag
he must take them to where four road
cross and throw the bag over his lcf
shoulder. This charm will never be re
sorted to, however, by persons who hav,
no righteousness in their hearts. for if
| W IhohSCJ any OtiCl pCloOH nHOulu nut
the bag and open it the warts will ap
pear on his hand
, A wen is usually troublesome am
unsightly thing to be afflicted WITH bu
the victims of wens need not suffer lon.
.. if they believe in the English charm
j Take common snake. Hold it by tn
head and tail, and draw it backward ant
forward nine times over the wen. The
. cork the snake in a bottle and bury it
. If that fails, the patient must not repine
. but simply wait until the next May Day
Rise early in the morning of that da
before the sun has disturbed the dew
d Go to graveyard, and by passing tn
J hand three times from head to foot owe
e the grave, collect the dew that lies o.
n the grave of the last young person VIII
= n was buried in the yard. If the victir
I, of the wen is woman the grave mus
Y be that of man, and vice versa. Appl
the dew Immediately to the wen, and