ed in
their sacrifices as emblematic of fidelity, and for some reason or other
it also came to be regarded as a charm against evil fascinations. By
Roman Catholics in the middle ages, salt was used to protect children
from evil influences before they had received the sacrament of baptism.
This practice is referred to in many of the old ballads and romances.
In a ballad called _The King's Daughter_, a child is born, but in
circumstances which do not admit of the rite of baptism being
administered. The mother privately puts the baby into a casket, and,
like the mother of Moses, sends it afloat, and as a protection places
beside it a quantity of salt and candles. The words of the ballad are--

"The bairnie she swyl'd in linen so fine,
In a gilded casket she laid it syne,
Mickle saut and light she laid therein,
Cause yet in God's house it had'na been."

Let us return to the mother and child whom we left visiting at a
friend's house, and receiving the covenant of friendship. It was unsafe
to be lavish in praise of the child's beauty, for although such
commendation would naturally be gratifying to the mother, it would at
the same time increase her fears, for the _well faured_ ran the greatest
risk from evil influences, and of being carried off by the fairies.
There was also the superadded danger of the mother setting her
affections too much upon her child and forgetting God, who then in
jealousy and mercy would remove it from her. This latter was a very
widespread superstition among religiously-minded people, even among
those who, from their education, ought to have known better. I well
remember the case of a young mother,--a tender loving woman, who, quite
in keeping with her excitable affectionate nature, was passionately fond
of her baby, her first-born. But baby sickened and died, and the poor
mother, borne down with grief, wept bitterly, like Rachel refusing to be
comforted. In the depth of her affliction she was visited by both her
pastor and elder. They admonished her to turn her mind from the selfish
sorrow in which she was indulging, and thank God for His kindly dealing
toward her, in that He had removed from her the cause of sin on her
part. She had been guilty, they said, of loving the baby too much, and
God, who was a jealous God, would not suffer His people to set their
affections on any object in a greater degree than on Himself; and
therefore, He, in his mercy toward her, had removed from her t