Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-23

in signs.
Dusky legend tellers relate how the
white dove flew out Of the Ark and was the
first living thing to find land after tho
great flood. They Augment the old story by
saying that on that land did the dove, for
love of man, plant the first grain of corn.
They bless the gentle bird for giving that
strongest staff Of life to the laborer, that
which they call in their quaint fancy for
personifcation Friend John Constant,
de good corn meal dat stands by you
constant" 1t was tho mourning dove
who brought the world another great
blessing; with her tender bill she dug for
man the first springs. To him who hears
tho first doves note in the new spring
time, good or bad lack is p%ortended, as
the nearer happens to be going up or down
d hN when the tender complaining strikes
his ear.
A pocketful Of money and a crib full Of
corn at the end of the year await the man
WHO, walking a level road. hears the
doves cooling. IL he comply with the fol-
lowing condition. to step three steps after
hearing the first note, then to lie down
and roll over his three last tracks.
A mighty love powder is thought by
dark damsels to be made Of a parched and
powdered doves heart. Not u few negroes
believe that troubles will follow him who
kills a dove. The mourning dove Is said
to mourn for a passing soul.
CONCERNING BIRDS EGGS.
The partridge fears to frequent the
ground oft trod by man, hence arises the
belief that death will come to some
dwellor in q cabin near which Is heard the
partridge's shrill whistle. Lucky Is he
who finds the nest OF the industrious
partridge, for these are birds eggs that
can be eaten without fear Of evil conse.
quences.
But let no person who loves home eat
the egg Of the blue bird. for that egg gives
TO the eater thereof an insatiate desire to
run a~way-always to run away. Days
full Of sunshine will invite him to wander,
days Of clouds and rain will demand him
TO leave the warm home hearth; always to
slip away somewhere from familiar places
and well loved faces. Woe to him who
eats a hooking birds egg; the penalty
attached to the eating thereof is to tell
all, an maybe MON you know" The
eater Of a klldee's egg will surely there
after break his arm.
It was the bright, restless little robin
that planted on old earth the first one Of
the many cedars that now shake their
plumes on a thousand hills.
1t was tho pert jay bird that brought In
his bill the first grit Of dirt" to the
world; whence he few with it legend fails
TO inform. For a certain space on Friday
o say the mammies. no jay Is to be
seen ON the whole face of tho earth.
Why? They go to the under world TO
carry to the king Of that realm a grain Of
sand Whether this is a punishment for
the bringing of that first grit" no aunty
will tell. but she will assert most posi-
lively that the jays do certainly leave our
world at precisely 8 O'Clock on Friday
morning, and are back promptly at ]
o'clock Of that sam day.
LUCK AND A LOVER
Lucky is the dusky maid who sees q red
bird when she is not on the lookout for
one She must make no mention of hav-
ing seen the pretty fellow, but discreotly
go about her business. maxim ns mira
ton ut ALL" If this condition is complied
with she will see her sweetheart before the
sun Is down. II the bird seen Is bright
red, her lover will come in happy mood; if
pale Is the color of the bird, her lover will
show himself i'll tempered.
Never bring out Of a wild birds nest a
young one to strive TO rear it in q house
where people live, for the bird will surely
die, and no less certainly viii tho super
s~titious ones regard this death as a call"
for some loved inmate Of that dwelSng to
die also.
Tho rain crosy cries for rain. There are
many jolly dialect songs about the crow.
The negroes seem TO consider him quite a
smart fellow. One of them, a black one
cith white feathers under his wings, Is n
preacher crow" Most direful i'll, how
ever, will follow the dwellors In q house
on whose roof a crow lights. 1t is the wren
nesting under tho caves that brings tho
greatest good fortune to a house. Fol
lowed by griefs and trials will be that
man who kills a wren.
Let no person mock O "shiverin' owl"
for the penalty thereto is dat ireT fol
Ter you" Who mocks a w~hippoorwill
will have his clothes burned up Who
hears a whippoorwil sounding its sweet
note in daylight will have his clothes
burned A fock of brown birds called
AIR colts" twitter for a death sign.
The great white crane only leaves his
marshy places to bring to some household
"warnin' O death" Great CONSERVATION
fills q house when the crane flies over the
root and calls down his dolorous cry Of
"Corpsel Corpsel Corpse!"-Eh Shepperd
in New Orleans Times Democrat.