The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-03-04
EFFICACY OF CHARMS,

EFFICACY OF CHARMS.
Psaasyivs.ie Cit,ssas wAe sem 0lise 70
Old e1DeEseitioas.j
Years ago a number of emigrants
from Devonshire, Lancaster, Cornwall.
Yorkshire and other counties of Eu9-
land, settled in Northern Pennsylv.nis.
near the New York line. They have
made some of the finest farms in tho
state and are the best of citizens, but
many of them cling with . singular
tenacity to strange belief in the eff
cacy of certain charms that have been
used for centuries among the class to
which they belonged in England. Tho
charmed ring cure for epilepsy is one of
these. Only afew days ago jeweller
at Honesdale was called upon by .
resident of the settlement, who had
with him his daughter, . sickly girl of
fifteen. The girl produced nine Eng
lish twopenny pieces, from which the
jeweller was requested to make q ring
to fit the girls middle finger. 1t was
necessary the father said, that por-
ton of each coin should be used and
the rest of the pieces saved and return
ed to his daughter. The coins were
given to her by nine boys rs 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 q cure that was al
ways tried in Devonshire, and never
failed. II the victim of epilepsy was =
male the nine coins must be prepared
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 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 sticking in the tree, walking
away without looking behind him. Suf-
ferers with erysipelas by wearing in
silken bag around their necks toad
from which the night hind leg and the
left fore leg had been cut, until the
mutilated reptile dies, will get we'll 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
a fox at any crossroads, the charm is
seldom invoked. One old resident of
the settlement carries in his pocket
constantly an immense tooth from q
human jaw. The tooth, he says, was
taken from the mouth of a man who
was hanged in Hartfordshire more than
one 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 preventative of toothache, the
tooth from dead PERSONS mouth being
certain charm against that malady.
The owner of the tooth says he. never
had toothache in his life. A double
hazel nut carried in the pocket or shout
the person is also a preventative of the
disease.
The charms for the dispertion of
warts believed in by many of these hon.
est farmers are numerous and most
singular. For instance, if a 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
nv nth <An% 20 ill
gradually disappear from the persons
hands and appear on those of the tramp.
BY cutting notch on a green elder
stick for every wart person may have,
rubbing the stick on every wart and
then burying it in the barn yard until it
rots the warts may be cured. Warts
may also be removed by taking black
snail, rubbing it on all the warts ut
night and impa,ing the snail on thorn
bush, repeating the process nine sue
cessive nights, by which time the warts
and the snail will both be shrivelled up.
Another way to get rid of warts is for
the person to see funeral pass une1-
pectedly, wherever he may be, and as
it passes rub his warts quickly and re-
peat the words, Warts and corpse
pass away and never more to return"
Green peas may also be used to adj
vantage in taking off warts. Let the
afflicted person take as many peas as
he 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 a hazel bush. II
peas are not in season and the person
with the warts does not care to try any
Of the above named charms. let him Sc
lect as many pebbles as he has warts.
Sewing them up in a small bag, he must
take them to where four roads cross
and throw the bag over his left shout
der. This charm will never be resorted
to. however. by persons who have no
righteousness III their hearts, for if by
chance any other person should find
the bag and open it the warts will ap-
pear on his hand.
Not Easily Satisfied.