The Portland daily press., 1900-02-14
SOME ODD BELIEFS.

Singular Notions That Connect Bees
with Death In the North of Eng
iand-The Fear of the Fairies That
Exists In Ireland.
OF all the unaccountable superstitions
that prevail the most unaccountable per-
hnps are those that relate to bees.
Throughout the north of England and es-
pecially In rural Yorkshire the belief is
firm that bees always know in advance
when misfortune will befall their owners.
Whenever. therefore, they hum In a GER
tain, low, disconsolate fashion, the owner
of the hive IL a true northerner has never
a doubt but that disaster Is at hand for
him or his IL there be Illness in house
In the Yorkshire dales, an anxious watch
is always kept on the hives. One by one
the members OF the family will creep
down to the garden to see what the bees
are doing. IL they are found to be at
work as usual. quietly gathering honey.
1t is held to be a sign that the patient
will recover, but IL they are buzzing
around in a state OF unrest then 1t IS
known that there is danger, and weeping
and waiting begin Mt once. IL they seem
inclined to desert their hive, that is the
worst sign OF all, the sign that there is no
hope OF recovery. IL in that part OF the
world the owner OF beehive dies, some
member of the family always goes OF at
once TO tell the bees. The messenger
kneels down by the side of the hive and
whispers in at the door, John Metcalf"
or whatever the persons name may be
John Metcalf is dead, and am come
to tell the bees" He-or more often 1t is
she--repeats the words three times and
then hastens back to the house, for
piece of Grape must be found and tied to
the top Of the hive before sunset. IL the
bees are not told of the death of their
owner with due ceremony, too, or II their
badge Of mourning be not hoisted at the
proper time, they will all die within
month-so at least the dalcsfolk and
their northern kith and kin believe firmly.
No Irish nurse win willingly weigh a
baby, no matter what the doctor may say
or do. She will assure him that she has
weighed 1t; will tell him its weight to the
fraction of an ounce, but weigh 1t she
will not, for IL she did it would surely die
within a year, she would tell you with
ring Of firm conviction In her voice; and
she will string off a long list of babies
she has known that have been weighed
and have died. There is another thing
that she cannot be induced to do, and
that Is cut the nails of baby before 1t
is months old; IL they grow. too long,
she bites them. Not that she thinks the
baby would die IL she did cut them, but
she knows that II would grow up to be
thief Reasons for this conviction OF hers
| she has none. No amount Of coaxing viii
induce her even to try to explain what
honesty can possibly have to do with I'M
| cut nails, but none the less no charge Of
, hers ever has its nails cut.
! There are some superstitions that are
fairly universal, as, for instance. that Of
! the death tick. In England, France, Ger
many and Austria-possibly other coun-
tries, too-whenever that little ticking is
heard. the ticking as of a watch In the
distance. women, and men, too, some
! times, look at one another with fear In
their eyes and wonder whose doom 1t Is
that Is being sounded. Then sailors of all
| nations pin their faith to corpse candies,
as they call the st. Elmo lights that play
| around the masts Of ships In stormy
weather. Any one on whom a candle
| lights they regard as n man marked out
for drowning. and il the candles run
| down on to the deck the ship, too. they
look ON as doomed. doomed never again TO
enter harbor. The superstition with re-
gard to magpies is also one that seems to
prevail throughout Europe and always in
precisely the same form. North. south,
east and west the peasants believe that II
is unlucky to see one maybe. lucky to see
two; that to see three means a wedding
and to see four a birth.
On the other hand. many of these pop
ular beliefs are peculiar to some special
district. For instance. In East Anglia
and apparently nowhere else an odd su-
perstition prevails with regard to slip
pers. There no prudent mother would
ever think of allowing her daughter to
work a pair of slippers for any young
man whom she wishes her to marry and
above all not for one to whom she Is en-
gnged. For II Is a saying that she who Is
given slippers slips away" There Is
much the same feeling with regard to
giving or receiving scissors or knives, as
such presents are popularity supposed to
be used by the fates as instruments
wherewith to sever the ties between true
lovers and friends. Not so very long ago
an East Anglican farmers wife. practi-
cal, common sense woman enough in many
respects, burst into tears when her hus-
band brought home from the market a
black sheep, for black sheep. she main
tanned between her sobs, always bring
with them bad luck. There. too, and also
In Canada for a COW to lose its cud is re-
garded as a sign Of coming misfortune.
In some parts of England, strange TO say.
robins are regarded as harbingers of woe.
| If .keening" be heard in Killarney, the