hites.
_Chestertown, Md._

655. Sailors are unwilling that their friends should sweep after dark,
because in that case their wages will be swept away by sickness or
otherwise.
_Westport, Mass._

TURNING BACK.

656. It is unlucky to turn back for anything after you have set out to go
anywhere.
_Prince Edward Island._

657. Returning to the house for something and starting again without
sitting down is bad luck.
_Virginia._

658. It will prove unlucky if you return for a forgotten article after
you have left the house; but if you seat yourself before leaving the
house again, the misfortune will be averted.
_New York._

659. To avert ill luck or disappointment that will come if a person comes
back to a house for something forgotten, he must sit down a minute.
_General in New England._

660. To go back into the house for something after starting on a journey
is unpropitious. To have it brought out is all right.
_Iowa._

661. If you have to go back to the house after something forgotten, you
must not sit down, but stand a moment or two, or else it is bad luck.
_Cape Breton._

662. If you start anywhere and go back, it is bad luck unless you make a
cross-mark and spit in it.
_Alabama and Kentucky._

MISCELLANEOUS.

663. If two persons shake hands across the gate, they are bringing on
themselves ill luck.
_Alabama._

664. It is unlucky to pass under a ladder.
_Canada._

665. Go under a ladder and you will be hanged.

666. Walking under a ladder is considered very unlucky. In the outposts
girls will climb the rockiest cliffs to avoid such a contingency. On one
occasion in St. John's, where a ladder extended across the sidewalk, of
one hundred and twenty-seven girls who came along, only six ventured
under it, the rest going along the gutter in mud ankle deep.
_Newfoundland._

667. If, in passing, one parts two people, it is a sign of disappointment
to the parter.

668. When two or three people go between different posts, in the entrance
of gardens, cemeteries, etc., it is a sign they will be separated or
disappointed.
_General in the United States._

669. Sing on the street,
Disappointment you'll meet.

670. To count the steps of stairs, as you lie on your back, indicates the
number of your troubles.

671. To fall upstairs means good luck; downstairs, ill l