Part 2 (2/2)
_North Carolina._
24. Let the baby have or touch the thing he starts after on taking the first step, and he will always get what he wishes. If it be the moon, then let him touch something light, on which its light s.h.i.+nes.
25. When taking the child into your arms for the first time, make a good wish for him; if you give him his full name and he opens his eyes and looks at you (answers to his name), it is good luck.
26. To be a bright baby, it must fall out of the crib before it is eleven months old.
_Brookline, Ma.s.s._
27. If a baby does not fall out of bed, it will be a fool.
_Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts._
28. A child's tumbling out of bed is a sign he will never be a fool.
_Maine._
29. To drink water out of a bucket which is being carried on a child's head stops its growth.
_Virginia._
30. To step over a young child stops its growing.
_Virginia._
31. About 1860 the Alabama negresses believed that if any one stepped on their pickaninnies it would dwarf them.
32. Pa.s.s a baby through a window and it will never grow.
_South Carolina._
33. Do not go for the first time into the room where the infant is without removing the veil and gloves.
34. If the ”cradle cap” of a baby be combed with a (fine?) tooth comb, the child will be blind.
_Labrador._
35. A baby should not look into a gla.s.s before it is a year old; if it does it will die.
_Deer Isle, Me._
36. Hold a baby to a looking-gla.s.s, he will die before he completes his first year.
_Ma.s.sachusetts._
37. If you let a child look into a looking-gla.s.s before it is a year old, it will cut its teeth hard.
_Baltimore, Md. (negro), and Virginia._
38. It is bad luck not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. When it is first dressed put the clothes on over the feet instead of the head for good luck.
39. The common nurse has an objection to weighing a new-born baby.
40. Always give a baby salt before it tastes aught else. The child will not choke, and in general it is a good thing to do.
_Mansfield, O._
FIRST ACTIONS.
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