Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-04-22

Years ago q number Of emIgrants
Yorkshire, and other counties In Eng
land settled In northern Pennsylvania,
near the New York line. They have
made some Of the fiEest farms In the
State. and are the best Of citizens; but
many Of them cling, with singular te-
nacity 10 strange belief IN the efiicien-
cy OF certain charms that have been
used for centuries among the class to
which they belonged in England.
The charmed ring cure for epilepsy
| Is one ofthese. Only a few days ago q
Ijeweler In one Of the villages was called
upon by q resident of the settlement,
who had with him his daughter, sick
lly girl of fifteen. The girl produced
nine English twopenny pieces, from
which the jeweler was requested TO
make q ring to fit the girls middle fin
ger. 1t was necessary, the farmer said,
| that a 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
cure that 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 GER
tain charm against fire.
To cure ague the patient is taken to
spot where two roads cross, and an oak
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 pa
tient must then tear himself loose, leav-
ing the hair sticking In the tree, and
walk away without looking behind.
Sufferers with erysipelas, by wearing
in q silken bag around their necks
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 believers say, carried about
the person, will ward off diseases 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
cross roads, the charm Is seldom invok-
ed.
One old resident of the settlement
carries in his pocket constantly an i'm
mense tooth from human jaw. The
tooth, he says, was taken from the
mouth of man after he was dead, who
was hanged In Hertfordshire more than
hundred years ago. and was carried
by the present owners father, grand
father and great-grandfather. It Is car
ried as preventive of toothache, the
tooth from dead persons mouth be-
ing certain charm against that mala-
dy. The owner of the tooth says he
never had the toothacbe in his life. A
double hazelnut carried in the
pocket or about the person is also pre-
ventive of this very painful ailment.
The charm for the dispersion of warts
believed in by many of those 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 or them on the band of
tramp's hat without the tramp know
ing it, he will carry the warts away
with him-that is, they will gradually |
disappear from the persons hands and |
appear on those of the tramp. BY cut
ting notch on green elder stick for |
every wart person may have, rubbing |
the stick on every wart, and then bury I
ing it in the barnyard and leaving it |
there to rot, the warts may be cured. |
Warts may also be removed by taking |
a black snail, rubbing it on all the
warts at night, and impaling the snail |
on thorn bush, repeating the process
nine successive nights, by which time |
the warts and the snail will both be
shrivelled up. Another way for per-
son to get rid of warts is for the person |
to see 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.n
Green peas may also be used to I
in taking off warts. Let the |
afflicted person take as many peas as |
he has warts and touch each wart with |
d different pea. He must then wrap /
each pea in a separate piece of paper /
and bury them secretly under an ash |
tree or under hazel bush. If peas are
not i'm season and the person with warts |
does not care to try any of the above
named charms, let him select as many
pebbles as he has warts. Sewing them
up ina small bag, he must take them |
TO where four roads cross and throw the /
bag over his left shoulder. This charm |
will never be resorted 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 appear on his hand.