Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-06-13
MANY QUEER CURES AVOID THE CROWDS
Quaint Remedies Of English Peas.
ants Described.
Keys With Pieces Of White Bone, Cop
per Rings, MoIe's Feet, First
Tooth, Flint, and Witch
Cake 40 Charms.

o. S0NS - Sn0TVOUs
Quaint remedies for all manner OF
troubles and diseases declared by
peasants in many parts of England to
be most efficacious were described by
e. Lovett in fascinating lecture at
a meeting of the Folk Lore society IN
London.
Charms and amulets, relics Of me-
diaeval superstition, still exist, 1t ap.
pears, in many of those counties which
are washed by the North, sea. They
are, however, gradually dying out; but
while they exist they provide splen-
did field for research. Mr.. Lovett
brought with him about 20 or 30 neat
little glass boxes, each Of which con-
tanned an object about which a won
derful story could be told.
Old keys are regarded as powerful
charms throughout East Anglia, and
although Mr.. Lovett offered five shill.
ings for an example with piece Of
white bone attached. which he saw In
the keyhole of barn. SO great was
the belief of the country people in its
power that the rustic at once refused
the offer. Great reverence is also felt
for stones with holes in them. Round
about Thetford they are hung by a
piece of string to the cottage doors
as a preventive against the visits OF
witches or the devil
For cramp it is averred that the one
satisfactory cure is the skin of an
eel, while at Brandon, when one Is
afflicted with rheumatism. immediate
recourse is had to the simple expedi.
ent of tying up potato in a cloth and
carrying it about in ones pocket.
The Norfolk peasants always regard
pointed flints as thunderbolts. So
consistent are the simple folks that
they will often assure you that they
picked them up red hot. They carry
f1ints and stone arrowheads about
with them In the belief that this GUS
tom will prevent them from being
struck by lightning.
Around about Marlborough Head
witch cakes" are to be met with in
almost every cottage These are cir
cular shaped, with hole in the mid
die and with spikes projecting on all
sides. If you hang one up in your
cottage and once year burn 1t and
replace it with another you will have
good luck, we are told. At Scarbor-
ough there lives an old fisherman who
is supposed to possess special faculty
for curing rheumatism. He sells the
patient" a copper bangle and cop
per ring. A special feature Is that on
the ends of the bangle there must be
wedged two small bore brass cart
ridge cases.
The fishermen of Whitby have a
special charm against drowning with
out which they would never venture
out of port 1t is little hammer
shaped bone known as "Thor's ham
mer"-from the head of sheep. In
many parts toCtache can apparently
be cured by carrying a moles foot,
while in Sussex thu same article will
surely cure cramp. Two little hearts
made of polished amber, with small
holes pierced in them, are worn by
fishermen in the north as a cure for
rheumatism.
In Suffolk a girl always keeps the
first tooth she loses-in some districts
the milk tooth. and in others the first
second tooth When she marries
and has a child she wraps the tooth
up in a dainty little silk bag and sus-
ponds it from the infants neck while
teething. 1t is said to bring instant
relief.
Mr.. Lovett told Of his difficulty in
many cases of discovering what good
the charm was supposed to accom-.
plish. 1t often took him weeks of pa
tent endeavor before he could find
what he wanted to know, so reticent
are the country folks.
In a discussion which followed 9TH
er members told of wondrous charms
and remedies. Amputated limbs are
in some cases preserved SO that in
the next world the crippled person
may not be deficient in that respect.
In public houses in parts of the east
end all pieces Of silver paper" are
preserved, moistened with beer and
made up into one large ball. This,
hung up, is a preventive against the
visits of witches. Thistle heads car
ried in the pocket also cure toothache.