, 1886-08-17
THE MYTHS OF CHILDHOOD.

THE MYTHS OF CHILDHOOD.
sspsrstitioes Notions Conosrnine snakes
-~Issputsd Rsmsdiss mr. Waxas-Fkhinr.
The snake tribe has givsn rls to an
unusually large number Of supersttions.
among peoples Of every degree Of civili-
xation and Of all times, from the dawn
of history to the present day, some form
Of serpent-wonhip has prevailed This
= not improbably due to the air Of mys-
terry which attaches to tho stealthy move
ments Of the animal and to the swe-in-
spring effect Of the bite OF poisonous
suakes- And just - serpent-worship
prevails among savages to-day, 20 among
civilized people, children, most Of all,
feel q fearful, superstitious interest In AL
that concerns snakes, and hsv invented
many myths about them. in central
Ohio when one child kills = snake the
lookers-on universally call out: ats tail
won't die till sundown." This notion, 1
find, is one of wide scceptation, and
doubtless arises from the persistent vital
ity OF the muscular c~ontractility Of the
snake. In southern Ohio 1t IL now gen.
orally believed that . make will not
crawl owe ash wood; and q man over 80
years of age tells me tho same belief was
common in Massachusetts, when he was
q boy, and he thinks 1t Is by no means
yet extinct. In certain locolities In Mas
sachusetts a reputed final cure for tooth
ache is to bite into a living blaoksnake.
An old saying
Break your first brake,
Kill your first snake,
And you'll conquer all your enemies,
is often recalled by the first snake one
meets in the spring, or at sight OF the
earliest fern. l find few children can be
persuaded that our common snakes arc
not poisonous"
Some reputed remedies for warts may
be in place just here. In southern Ohio
the children believe that the juice Of the
osage orange (Maclura aurantiaca) will
remove these d~isagrecabls e-xcrescences
In other parts of the same state the juice
oft tiny, creeping 4milkweed" Euphor-
bia maculata or E. humistrata) Is said to
be a certain cure for warts. This latter
notion 1 also find common in many
places both east and west Of Ohio; while
in eastern Massachusetts the same cura-
tive quality is thought to be possessed
by the milky juice of the Asclepias cor
mutt. New, does not the fact that plants
which differ 30 widely from one another,
save in the n respect of secreting .
white or milk-like juice, are alike re-
puted to possess this power Of removing
warts, probably show that this virtue is
entirely imaginary and the result Of
their accidental similarity In their juicesi
With or without reason, in eastern Mas
sachusetts it is thought that bathing
in rain water that chances to stand in .
yellow oak stump will cure them. An
other remedy is to rub them with = bean
leaf, and then burn the latter. Or, again,
steal a bean, rub tho warts, throw the
bean OF moist earth or bury ii, and, ~
the bean sprouts, it is supposed the warts
will gradually disappear. Another
@cure" is to cut a notch in . sprout Of an
and es the notch grows up the wart will
be removed.
Many a half-grown lad believes that
virtue is impaired to the bait by rubbing
1t before casting his line into the water
with the hard calosity from a horses
fore leg; these horny growths are. there
fore. eagerly sought about the stable or
the horseshoer's shop and are carried
about in the pocket in spite Of their
strong scent. Another supposed charm
is to spit on the bait. 1t is just possible
that some odor lent the bait by either of
these substances does attract the atten-
ton of the fish, but I nave no sufficient
evidence Of this. In some parts of New
England boys dislike to meet a crow
when going fishing. as they say this
foretells bad luck. Silence is the law Of
good anglers (of larger Rrowth), but boys
sometimes hope to get a bite" by re-
peating over and over:
@Ffshy, fishy, come bite my hook,
Pn go Captain, and you'll go cook
led in the PAM"
The confidence which children have in
the various lamentations which they re-
peat for certain purposes is mos in
teresting. In different localities they
utter various formulas when an ant
lions den is discovered. Children I
knee years ago in northern Ohio would
quickly bend down over the little funnel
in the sand and solemnly repeat in
rather a loud monotone. -Mooly-up."
-Mooly-up," until the sand began to be
stirred by the creature concealed below,
which doubtless was attracted by the
grooming sound.-Popular Science
Monthly.