Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-08
The Babes in the Wood" Percy says:


Till Robin Redbreast painfully
Did cover them with leaves
FROM this fancy seems to have grown
the notion that it is unucky to kill or
keep robin, and this is alluded to in
, the following lines of an 18th century
poet, which occurs in an ode to the robin:
Forever from his threshold fly.
Who, void of honor, once shall try
! With base inhospitable breast
To bar the freedom of his guest:
Q rather seek the PEASANTS shed
For he will give thee wasted bread
And fear some new calamity,
Should any there spread snares for thee. =
Whatever fancy and superstition may
GO by way of investing the robin with
glory that does not belong TO him, the
plain truth is that there is no more i'm
pertinent or mischievous thief in the
whole tribe of feathers
In Longfelows "Cross-bill'' there Is a
. touching little reference to the robin. 1t
goes:
There came a gentle, little bird,
Who with his efforts weak,
Plucked one from out the crown OF
thorns
With his dear tiny beak
And as he pulled, the crimson stream
The holiest and the best,
Flowing from where the thorn had been
'''' 'N''''' : ''"''' % '"'''
So. ever when the snow comes round.
TO crown the wintry year;
Tsc "a "a i tiis" upon tIie holS DOUGH-
, No other songster on the spray,
At N-maS time is heard:
But when the SaYiour's birth We keep
We hear the SaYiour'S bird
The robin is supersttiously fortunate
in many ways The legend which attrib-
utes its red breast to the birds having
attended our Lord upon the cross, when
some of his blood was Sprnkled on it.
may have died ont of the memory of the
| country folk, but still There s a divinity
doth hedge robin, which keeps IL from
innumerable harms.
| The nest of the robin is safe from the
most ruthless 'bird-nesting" boy You
must not take robins eggs: if you do,
you will get your legs broken" is the
, saying in suffolk. And. accordingly, YOU
will never find their eggs on the long
| strings of which BOYS are so proud.
| Their lives. too. are generally respected.
| 1t is unlucky TO Kill robin? How
! badly you write" said a man 10 a boy in
an English parish school. Your hand
shakes so that YOU can't hold pen
steady. Have you been running hard or
anything of that kind?"
NO" replied the lad, sit always
! shakes. | once had a robin die in my
| hand, and they say that if robin dies
| in your hand it will always shake" ami
| the boy was so firmly convinced in this
superstition that lie was unable To keep
| his hand quiet
| There is no more common superstition
regarding the robin than that in which
| be is supposed TO be invoking rain wher
his pipes" are especially noisy. Some
| times it does rain and sometimes does
| not, but every youngster possesses un.
shaken regard for the robin, due to this
supposed power
In some localities the people respect the
obin for its apparent supernatural pow
E, er. One family in "A certain Western
state say that every death and turn of
| fortune or misfortune to one OF Their
| midst is previously made known by a
robin. This is 50 exceptional 4 ease.
| however that little or no attention
should be naid to IL, for il is only imaei-
nation at the most
| Yet there are instances of a super
natural power attributed to. if not really
| DCsSeSStu ny Tile lODin. Many FARMERS
believe the presence Of d large number OF
robins indicates d season of good crops
and there is a very popular idea existent
among many people that an early de-
parture by the robin in the fall means a
| severe winter and an early arrival in the
spring an unusually long summer. An
| early appearance by the robin in the
| spring is also considered by some as a
sign Of no more winter. This belief does
not always hold true. however, for many
| robin has been heard on the coolest
| kind Of spring day after when there
were DAYS equally severe.
The Welsh have a particularly sintor-
eSting solution to account for the red
breast of the robin. They believe that
the songster was delegated by Il "higher
power" to qCench the flames OF burning
eedufe the feathers of his breast acct
l no oh