Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-11-13
THE EFFICACY OF CHARMS.
AN AGREEABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR
NAUsEATING MEDICINE.
Strange SuperStitIOns of English
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number of emigrants from Devonshire,
Lancaster, Cornwall, Yorkshire, and
other counties of England settled in
Northern Pennsylvania, near the New
Y Ork 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 tenH city to a 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 jeweler at Honesdale was called
upon by resident of the settlement
who had with him his daughter, sickly
girl of fifteen. The girl produced nine
English two-penny 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 givenher
by nine boys, as near her own age as
could be found, which would give to the
ring a charm which, when she put it on
would cure her of epilepsy, from which
she was suffering. This he maintained
was 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 certain
charm against fire. TO cure ague the
patient Is taken to a spot where two
roads cross, and an oak tree is found as
near the spot as possible. A lock of his
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 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 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 man who was
hanged in Hertfordshire 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 preventive
of toothache, the tooth from the dead
PERSONS mouth heing a certain charm
against that malady. The owner of the
tooth says he never had the toothache in
his life. A double hazelnut 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 person with
warts on his or her hands will write
down the number of them on the band
of 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 PERSONS hands and appear
on those of the tramp. By cutting a
notch on green elder stick for every
wart person may have, rubbing the
stick 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 shriveled up. Another way to
get rid of warts is for person to see q
funeral pass Unexpectedly, wherever he
may be, and as it passes rub his warts
quickly and repeat the words, "Warts
and corpse pass away and never more
return" Green peas may also be used
to advantage in taking off warts. Let
the afflicted person take as many peas as
LIE has warts and touch each wart with a
different pea. He must then wrap each
pea in separate piece of paper and
bury them secretly in the shade of an
ash tree or under hazel bush. If peas
are not in season and the person with
warts does not care to try the efficacy
of any of the above named charms
let him select as many pebbles as he
wants. Sewing them up in small bag,
he must take them to where four roads
cross and throw the bag over his left
shoulder. This charm will never be re-
sorted to, however, by persons who have
no maliciousness in their hearts, for if,
by chance, any other person should find
the bag and open it the warts will ap-
pear on his hand.
/ A wen is usually troublesome and
unsightly thing to be afflicted with, but
the victims of wens need not suffer long
if they believe in the English charm.
! Take common snake. Hold it by the
head and tail, and draw it backward and
| forward nine times over the wen. Then
cork the snake in bottle and bury it.
If that fails, the patient must not repine
but simply wait until the next May Day.
Rise carly in the morning of that day
before the sun has disturbed the dew.
Go to graveyard, and by passing the
hand three times from head to foot over
the grave, collect the dew that lies on
the grave of the last young person who
was buried in the yard. If the victim
of the wen is a woman the grave must
be that of man, and vice versa. Apply
the dew Immediately to the wen, and a
cure is guaranteed. In England, accord
ing TO an old resident of the settlement,
the ''dead stroke" was considered a
failing cure for wens. This was
the stroking of the affected part with the
head of dead criminal.
The charm for curing nosebleed is a
curious one. If person is subject to
nosebleed he may effect cure by going
to person of the opposite sex and re-
questing him or her to purchase a piece
Of lace. such as may be snecifed for