The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1894-12-07
THE WHITE WITCH.
Cornish Country Folk Prefer Her to a
Trained Physician.

OOrnlSn country FOLK ffeIef Her to Il
Trained Physician.
Old world superstitions are by no means
! extinct in England, and in the West
country they are very powerful. A coun-
try doctor gives some curious experiences
Of his practice in Cornwall, which, he
declares. he shared with dirty old wom-
an, known as the white WITCH" He
tells the story of Il girl who was seized
with fits. She consulted the witch, who
said she had been bewitched by somebody.
and told her to go away and find out
who it vas.
In p week the girl went back and said
she dreamed every night of Il stout eld-
erly woman, with Il very red face, who
threatened her. 1t so happened that
close by there lived an elderly widow,
charitable, popular and highly respected.
but stout, and, unfortunately, red in the
face She was evidently the witch, and
her good character made her all the more
dangerous Besides. if she had not be-
wtched the girl. why did she appear to
her in Il dream?
There was no resisting these arguments.
and fifty years ago to set the poor old
lady swimming in the river, which. of
course, would have been much the best
way of breaking the spell. AS that, UNI
happily. was impossible, the next best
way was to 60 by night to the old lady's
house, take stone from the garden wall,
and put It into the kitchen lire at the girls
home: When it was charred away the fits
would cease: and. indeed, they would
cease earlier still if the case could be
helped by hanging around the girls neck
the finger of a man who had hanged him
self-but such things were hard to come
by. Fortune favored the girl. A man
hon hat -,
let near at hand. The suicides finger was
secured, used as the witch had directed,
and the fits ceased almost Immediately.
This case occurred in the year 1887.
However, the white witch was not al
ways so successful. The cottagers had
nnbounded belief in the absurd and some
times mischievOus old woman, and would
even 20 to her in cases where delicate
surgery was required. But the ways of
the inhabitants have now grown familiar
to the doctor, and he more than half be-
!leyes their traditions, and does not re-
!ect the very widest of them. And even
in the juggleries of the white witch his
ear sometimes catches the ring of truth.
Told the Truth.
The South Carolina presbytery at re-
cent meeting received into it's membership
after examination, the Rev. James Wood
row. II. L., who has been under cloud
TOR some time on account of certain views
about monkey business-that is to say, the
descent of man-which he is supposed to
have entertained. The examination was
rigid and satisfactory. He was asked if
ne believed the holy scriptures contained
the word of God, and answered that he
did: Further:
ps "no to You ., be'ive that Moses wrote the
Most of it, SIR
':What portion do you think he did not
write?
'The account of his own death."-Char-
lotte Observer.
Hawks Darkened the Sky.
Early yesterday morning a strange sight
was witnessed by the farmers who re-
side east Of this city. It seemed as if the
sky was black with swarm Of hawks,
which slowly circled overhead. Those
who saw the sight say that they never
witnessed anything of the kind before, and
it seemed t as all the hawks in the eon
of them, with about 500 birds to the
bunch. The hawks: came from the north
cast, and were slowly circling towards the
southwest. They were Of y different color
from the hawks that are found here. It
IS supposed that the forest fires drove
Monitor.
The Crinolinc Scare.
Agnin the crinoline scare! This time
the ,bugaboo is not hoopskirt, nor yet a
buckram frame founced and frilled in
such manner as warrants rustling sweep
OF fabrics. The present menace is the
wiring Of the gowil's drnipery. This fine
wire is hemmed in the border of the skirt
and also fastened within seams so that
the cores flare and flop with the move.
ments of the wearer., Crinoline has been
l lodging around the edges Of fashion for
q some time. The question is whether or
10 it Will win it's way to the fore through
patient insistence. sss-.@