cending or descending
trees immediately after the death of a person.

The Rev. P. W. Sparling, Rector of Erbistock, informed me that one day a
parishioner met him, and told him that his brother, who had lately died,
was in hell, and that he wished the Rector to get him out. Mr. Sparling
asked him how he knew where his brother was, and in answer the man said
that he knew, because he had seen his brother in the form of a white cat
descend a tree immediately after his death. On further inquiry, the man
stated that since the cat came _down the tree_, it was a sign that his
brother had gone down to hell; but had the cat _gone up the tree_, it
would have shown that he had gone up to heaven.

I have heard it stated, but by whom I have forgotten, that if a _black_
cat leaves a house where a person dies, immediately after that person's
death, it shows he has gone to the bad place; but if a white cat, that he
has gone to heaven.

_Cows._

_Cows Kneeling on Christmas Morn._

In the upland parishes of Wales, particularly those in Montgomeryshire,
it was said, and that not so long ago, that cows knelt at midnight on
Christmas eve, to adore the infant Saviour. This has been affirmed by
those who have witnessed the strange occurrence.

Cows bringing forth two calves are believed to bring luck to a farmer;
but in some parts of Wales a contrary view is taken of this matter.

If the new born calf is seen by the mistress of the house with its head
towards her, as she enters the cowhouse to view her new charge and
property, it is a lucky omen, but should any other part of the calf
present itself to the mistress's view, it is a sign of bad luck.

Witches were thought to have great power over cows, and it was not
unusual for farmers to think that their cows, if they did not thrive, had
been bewitched.

_Crickets_.

It is lucky to have crickets in a house, and to kill one is sure to bring
bad luck after it. If they are very numerous in a house, it is a sign
that peace and plenty reign there. The bakehouse in which their merry
chirp is heard is the place to bake your bread, for it is a certain sign
that the bread baked there will turn out well.

An aged female Welsh friend in Porthywaen told me that it is a sign of
death for crickets to leave a house, and she proved her case by an apt
illustration. She named all the parties concerned in the following
tale:--"There were hundreds of crickets in . . . house; they