her mother's dish-cloth or dish-wiper, she will never be homesick. Old
Mrs. ---- told me that she believed that was the reason she was not
homesick when they moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio.
_Ohio._

1466. To have a sharp knife is a sign of a lazy man.
_Central Maine._

1467. Passing anything through a ladder is a sign of a long passage.
_Conception Bay, N.F._

1468. If a ship has a starboard list, it is a sign of a quick passage; if
a port list, it is a sign of a long passage.
_Conception Bay and New Harbor, N.F._

1469. Write the date of the first snowstorm, and you'll gain a bet before
the winter is through.
_Massachusetts._

1470. To ascertain a girl's age, pull a hair from her head, hang a
finger-ring from this inside a tumbler or goblet, and it will strike the
number of years.
_Boston, Mass._

1471. Throw a strand of your hair in the fire; if it blazes you will live
long and happily; if not, you will die soon.
_Alabama._

1472. If a tree falls to the right while you are looking at it, you are
going on a long trip before the end of the year, and will have some
unexpected piece of good luck.
_Alabama._

1473. A person born on Halloween is said to be possessed of evil spirits.
_Alabama._

1474. Place a broom across the door, and if any of your departed friends
wish to speak to you they are free to come and go at will while the broom
remains there.
_Alabama._

1475. If a person who raises fowls is bothered with hawks, he may prevent
the trouble by throwing a handful of "rocks" into the fire while it is
burning brightly.
_Alabama._

NOTES.

NOTES.

Introduction, page 8.--S.G. Drake, _Annals of Witchcraft in New England_,
Boston, 1869, p. 189, remarks that the principal accusers and witnesses
in the witchcraft prosecutions of 1692, in Salem, Mass., were eight girls
from eleven to twenty years of age, and adds with reference to their
conduct previous to the accusations: "These Females instituted frequent
Meetings, or got up, as it would now be styled, a Club, which was called
a Circle. How frequent they had these Meetings is not stated, but it was
soon ascertained that they met to 'try projects,' or to do or produce
superhuman Acts. They doubtless had among them some book or books on
Magic, and Stories of Witchcraft, which one or more of their Circle
professed to understand,