Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-06-14
Traditions of the Nails.

Considerable care and attention
have always been paid TO the nails,
and many curious ideas and beliefs
with regard to them exist,even among
our own people.
A curious Jewish tradition reports
that Adam was entirely clothed in a
hard, horny skin, and only lost it and
became subject to evil spirits on los
ing Paradise. The nails are the rem.
hants of this dress, but they are sa
cred. and who ever cuts them off and
throws the cuttings away does him
self an injury. An old Persian Chron:
Gle says that Eve also possessed this
dress, and the nails were left to remind
them of the loss of Paradise.
The Ancient Edda of the Scandina-
vians tells OF a great ship. Naglfar.
which will appear at the last day. 1t
is made OF dead mems nails, and par
ings should not be thrown away, nor
should any one die with impaired
nails, 'ifor he who dies so, supplies
material for the building OF that YES
sci, which gods and men viii wish were
finished as late as possible"
The Jewish Talmud OF Babylon for.
bids the Jews to leave the nail parings
on the ground, for fear of the conse-
quences to women passing over them.
They should be burned or hidden
away. Another old work says: "He
who burns the parines of his nails is
a pious man; he who buries them is
equally SO; but he who casts them on
the earth is an impious man." Many
Jews still carefully burn or bury these
cuttings. These are taken, inclosed
between two small bits os wood and
consumed. The reason alleged is that
the body should be burned or buried,
and that nail pairing being left above
ground, the soul of the possessor will
wander abroad after his death. In
Norway they are burned, or else one
will have to gather the pieces on the
last day.
There are many curious beliefs in
regard to the manner in which the
nails should be cut. He who has had
the habit OF pairing them frequently
will have no good luck, say Andalu.
sian w~iseracres, and he who cuts
l LiltIt ONtT ~ llTt, Wig ILc DdElilko
to drop into it, will become a fool.
In Iceland. it is believed that any
one turning toward the north
while trimming his nails will soon die.
Norwegian PEASANTS say you must use
the knife with which you trim the
nails TO cut something else before put.
ting it away. If you cut with it three
times into wood you are free from
any danger of sorcery. Arabs proper.
ly regard it as bad taste to bite the
nails.
The nails of infants are regarded
with peculiar attention in many lands.
1t is generally thought throughout
Europe that they must not be cut at
all until tie child has attained a GER
tain age. In one'part of France, it is
said that they must not be trimmed
at all or the child will grow slowly; in
in an other that it will not learn TO
talk soon; in another, that it will be
a thief; in another, that cutting them
before the child is seven years old, will
destroy its wit. while the limit in still
another part of the game country is
but one year.
In Germany, and in parts OF Eng.
land, 1t is said that the child will be-
come a thief il its nails are cut while
at the breast, and it is prescribed both
in these countries and in France, that
they should be bitten of, preferably
by the mother. Many mothers in our
own country believe this, and prefer
to use no steel. biting or pinching the
tender growths.
An old English proverb says:
Better a child had ne'er been born,
Than cut his nails on a Sunday MORN"
In Sicily, to avoid trouble, q piece OF
money is put into a child's hands the
first time its nails are trimmed. An
Galusian mothers carefully cut them
from behind the door il they wish the
child to be a good singer, while North.
cumberland parents bury the first
cutting under an ash tree for the same
reason. 1t is said IN many parts of
France, and Iii many parts u coun-
try that a 7-months child has no
nails.
At to Monday, you should cut
them then, if you neglect it Saturday,
for then you will not suffer from the
toothache, say Vendean peasants. 1t
is also a good day in Berne for a
like reason. In the department of
Qeux-Sevres, France. il you cut them
Monday morning, you will have n
present or good fortune OF some kind
during the week. In Pomerania, on
the contrary, it is believed that you
willhave no luck throughout the week,
il you cut them on the first day. The
same uncertainty attends the opera
ton performed on Tuesday. In
Calabria, in Normandy, in Maine and
in yalenciennes, to cut them on
Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday is
unfortunate, for you will have hang.
nails. 1t is a lucky day in Berne, for
you will never have the malaria or
toothache, if you cut them then. In
Sussex, England. it is said, If you cut
them on Tuesday morning without
thinking OF a fox's tail, you will get a
present. In Lusatia, it is said that
cutting them on Wednesday keeps
them from growing until the next
Sunday. Thursday seems to be a
lucky day to perform this act of neces-
sity, for it IS without mention in the
popular legends. Friday comes in for
its share OF ill-luck. In the Depart
meut of Maine, the person cutting
them on Friday will be unfortunate,
and in Sussex, England, ''Cut them
on Friday, you cut them for sorrow"
or as a widespread belief IS embodied
in ryme:
Cut them OF Monday, you cut them for
health;
Cut them on Tuesday, you cut them for
wealth;
Cut them on Wednesday, you cut them
for news;
Cut them on Thursday, a new pair oil
shoes;
Cut them on Friday, you cut them for
sorrow;
Cut them on Saturday, you sec your
true love tomorrow:
Cut them on Sunday, the devil will be
with you all the week.
Shakespeare says the nails were
called the "ten commandments"
"Could | come near YOU beauty with
my nails,
I'd set my ten commandments in your
face"
says the Duchess in King Henry VI.
Our modern danes, in taking such
care of the nails are but following the
example of their Roman ancestors,