Morning journal and courier., 1889-08-26

when turning the money to "wish wish, :" and the wish is certain of fulflment, and some Shropshire folk will tell you that whatever you are doing when you first hear the cuckoo "shout," as they term it, that you will continue to do all the year. There is very widespread superstition that any one on first hearing the bird can, by count ing the number of times that it repeats ''cuckoo" without intermission, so ascertain how many years of life are left for his or her enjoyment. This belief is found to prevail in France, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, as well as in this country. In Hungary, for the same purpose, the bird should be first heard during the moons first quarter.
 German rustics have notion that if they roll themselves three or four times in the grass when they first hear the cuckoo, they will thus secure themselves for the rest of the year against pains in the back. This is the only case in which there seems to be any connection traceable between the cuckoo and folk medicine. With certain form of di- vination, however, the bird is widely associ- ated. In the very important matter of ob. ta1n1ng, by some means or other, hint as to the appearance or characteristics of fu- ture partner for life, the unconscious cuckoo often plays all important part. In Ireland, 1t is believed that if, on first hearing its joy ful cry, you take off your left shoe and care- fully examine the stocking, you will find ad- herring thereto hair in color identical with the hair of your future husband or wife. The direction in which the bird is heard is also the direction whence will come the future partner; and, in Ulster, they will tell you that if, after finding the hair, you count the number of times the cry is repeated, you will know the number of years that will elapse before you are married. In Sweden, If the cuckoo calls more than ten times, the girls say that he Is bewitched, and pay no attention to his prophecies. In Cornwall 1t is accounted lucky to hear first the cuckoo on the right hand; and, for the purpose of divlnatton, the right shoe must be removed, and the hair will be found on the sole of the right foot. This is also the manner of spe- ration in Rome. In the northeast of Scot land we find that the practice differs.
 The Rev. Walter Gregor tells us that the first time the note of the cuckoo is heard, the nearer turns round three times on the left heel against the sun, searches in the hol- low made by the heel, and there finds the all important hair. In addition to these di- vinatory proceedings, the first hearing of the bird Is associated with a charm that would be very useful to country residents if only it's efficacy could be satisfactorily proved. In curious old Book of Dreams,' published at Birmingham in 1784, it is written: "When you first hear of the cuckoo, take some of the earth or dust from the place on which
 
 threshold of your outer door, telling nobody, and neither feas, earwigs or beetles will cross it." This charm is also known in France.
 There is long standing connection be- tween the arrival of the cuckoo and agricul. ture. Horace, in one of the satires, alludes to a proverbial saying of his time, in virtue of which slorhful vine dresser was branded as "cuckoo," because the cutting of his vines should have been accomplished before provinces of India the note of the India cuc- koo (koeD is supposed to be bad omen if heard at the first ploughing. In various English counties agricultural w1seaores say:
 When the cuckoo comes to a bare thorn,
 'Tis like to be good year for corn.
 Or, as given more fully by Ray:
 When the cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,
 Sell your COW and buy your corn;
 But when she comes to the full bit,
 Sell your corn and buy your sheep.
 Such are 8 few of the beliefs and sayings that have become attached to and bound up with the first appearance of this wonderful bird. It is not only, however, with his arri- val that folk lore has to do. His whole life and personality, if We may so speak of his "cuckooship," are surrounded by and mixed up with popular beliefs and curious tales But to tell of how ungratefully he treats his foster brethren, how by sucking little birds' eggs and other expedients he clears his voice, how the "wise men' of Gotham and of other places vainly endeavored to build a wall around him, to tell of the many and various flowers of which his garland is composed these and many other such matters would fill @ volume.