The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-07-01
SURVIVING sUPERsTITrONS.
Signs, Charms and Phiitsrs ina Which
CIVILIZED People StiIl Put Credemce.

Slgmg, Chafms ana FhAiterB 1m WhIcn
Civilized People StiIl Put CretIemce.
In Michigan double cedar knot il
carried in the pocket to cure rheuma.
tism, and in New Hampshire man car.
ried gall from the stems of golden-rod
for the same disease. A small white
grub is in the gall and he thought az
long as the grub remained alive no rheu.
matism could get hold of him. Hickory
nuts, the buckeye, and its cousin, the
horse chestnut. which brings good luck
in New Jersey, are other foes to rheuma.
tism in different localities. Some people
wear strange ring made OF a potato
with hole bored through 1t for rheuma.
tism, and others carry a plain potato in
the pocket. The charm is more potent
if the potato has been stolen. Almost
anything seems to have rheumatism.
fighting properties, for in Southern Mich.
igan a pebble in the pocket serves to
ward 1t off.
A New Hampshire cure for sore throat
is to wear about the neck a stocking, in
the toe of which potato has been tied.
According to q Maine belief, nutmeg
pierced and hung on string around the
neck prevents boils, Group and neuralgia.
The effect of Connecticut wooden nut
meg is unknown.
Among the negroes the most striking
remedies are to be found. Witness the
combination of cure and spell, described
under the name of "conjuring q tooth,
i'll Alabama. Go into lonely part of
the woods with one Of the opposite sex,
who is to carry an axe. The bearer Of
the axe chops around the roots of a white
oak, cuts off with large jack-knife nine
splinters from the roots of a tree, then
cuts around the roots of the aching tooth
with the knife, dips each of the nine
splinters in the blood flowing from the
cuts and finally huries the splinters at
the foot of the tree from which they
Z came. While doing this the operator
repeats something you don't understand
which is charm.
From the same locality comes curious
remedy for chills and fever. Take the
skin from the inside Of an eggshell, go
to young persimmon tree three days in
succession and tie knot in the skin each
day.
On the Eastern Shore of Maryland bill
iousness is cured by boring three holes in
q carefully selected tree and walking
three times around it, saying, $50 away,
bilious" 1t is matter Of utmost im-
l'ortance whether the one who performs
the spell walks with the sun or against
the sun, but no one knows which is the
approved direction.
We have comparatively few philters,
none with truly indigenous reputation,
but there are some of European origin
naturalized. Many of them have under.
gone certain variation since they found
II home on this side of the Atlantic.
Plants used in love divinations are COM
mon. In many parts Of England and
Scotland the familiar Southern wood is
known as "lad's love-" "lad-love-lass, !"
or lads love and lasses' delight" An
other British name for the plant is "old
mans love, or simply "old man" from
its use recommended by Pliny.
In Woburn, Mass. this herb is called
"boy's love-" and it is said that if a girl
tucks a bit in her shoe she will marry
The first boy she meets. In other parts
Of Massachusetts it is thought that if a
girl puts piece of Southern wood down
her back, the first boy she meets will be
her husband. In Boston, if marriage
able woman puts bit of Southern wood
under her pillow on retiring, the first
man she sees in the morning will, so
says the superstition, be the one whom
she is to marry,