Part 4 (2/2)

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

80. In pa.s.sing a tree in the middle of the sidewalk, children used to pa.s.s it on one side going one way and on the other side going the other way for luck.

_Billerica, Ma.s.s._

MYTHOLOGY.

81. The stars are angels' eyes.

_Westminster, Ma.s.s._

82. The stars are holes made in the sky, so that the light of heaven s.h.i.+nes through. ”I remember, as a child, that this idea was suggested to me on seeing the effect of holes in the lamp shade. I think, however, that I rather liked to suppose it true and firmly believed in the explanation.”

_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._

83. ”As a child, I constantly looked into lilies and tulips in the expectation of finding fairies lying within them.”

_Mansfield, O._

84. ”I remember that as a child, while walking with a companion, she cried: 'Why, a fairy lighted on my hand!' The child believed that this had been the case.”

_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._

85. The children used to fearfully look in the well, and on seeing the reflected face in the bottom, would cry out, ”Face in the well, pull me down in the well,” and would then run away quickly.

_Bruynswick, N.Y._

86. At the age of six or seven years, a child, while going to a spring to draw water, saw a little creature with wings fly from one star to another, leaving behind an arc of light. She cried to her aunt: ”Oh, aunt, I saw a little gold-boy!” Her aunt, somewhat shocked, rebuked the child, who insisted on the literal truth of her vision.

_Mansfield, O._

87. Stick your thumb through a knothole and say:--

Old Gran'f'ther Graybeard, without tooths or tongue, If you'll give me a little finger I'll give you a thumb.

Thumb'll go away and little finger'll come.

88. Go to the woodpile and say, ”Johnnie with your fingers, and Willie with your toes,” and something (suthin) will come out of the woodpile and tear off all your clothes (close).

_Gilsum, N.H._

PUNISHMENT.

89. An ”eyewinker” placed in the palm of the hand will cause the ferule to break when the teacher strikes the palm with it.

_Portsmouth, N.H._

90. Pine tar or pitch in the hand will prevent the blows of the ferule from causing pain. (_Portsmouth, N.H._, sixty years ago.)

Believed by most schoolboys there at that time.

SPORT.

91. At croquet, if your ball was about to be sent flying, the safeguard was to draw an imaginary X with your mallet, saying, ”Criss cross.” It made your enemy's foot slip, and many a girl would get ”mad” and not play, if you did it often.

_Brookline, Ma.s.s._

<script>