Part 11 (1/2)

232. On your birthday, as you retire at night, take off your slipper or boot. Stand with your back to the door and throw it over your head. If the toe points to the door, you go out of the chamber a bride before the year is out. You must not look at the boot until the morning.

_Bedford, Ma.s.s._

233. At night before going to bed take one of your garters and tie it in a knot and hang it on the bed-post above your head. While tying repeat,--

This knot I tie, this knot I knit, To see the young man I haven't seen yet.

_Chestertown, Md._

234. Young girls on going to bed at night place their shoes at right angles to one another, in the form of the letter T, repeating this rhyme:--

Hoping this night my true love to see, I place my shoes in the form of a T.

_Northern Ohio._

235. The first time you sleep in a house, upon retiring place the shoes in the form of a T, and say over,--

My true love by-and-by for to see, Be as she (or he) be, Bear as she (or he) may, The clothes she (or he) wears every day.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

236. Catch the four corners of a handkerchief up in the hand, then let some one wis.h.i.+ng to try her fortune draw two. If she gets two corners on the same side, she will not be married. If she gets opposite ones, she will be married.

_Prince Edward Island and Chestertown, Md._

237. A rhyme on stockings and shoes:--

Point your shoes towards the street, Leave your garters on your feet, Put your stockings on your head, You'll dream of the man you are going to wed.

_Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts._

238. Put the chemise, inside out, on the foot of the bed and under it a board with ashes upon it; then go to bed backwards, saying,--

Whoever my true love may be, Come write his name in these ashes for me.

_Winn, Me._

239. Place the heel of one shoe against the instep of the other for three nights in a row. You will dream of your future husband.

_Franklin, Ma.s.s._

240. On Friday night after getting all ready for bed, roll your petticoat up, and before lying down put it under your pillow, repeating this verse:--

This Friday night while going to bed, I put my petticoat under my head, To dream of the living and not of the dead, To dream of the man I am to wed, The color of his eyes, the color of his hair, The color of the clothes he is to wear, And the night the wedding is to be.

_Rock Hall, Md._

LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET.

241. Write names on three pieces of paper, throw them up in the air (in the dark); feel for one, put it under the pillow, and in the morning look at it to see the name of the man you are to marry.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

242. Put pieces of paper, each bearing one letter of the alphabet, in water face down, and then place them under the bed. Those turned up in the morning are the initials of your future husband.

_Prince Edward Island and Northern Ohio._

243. Write the names of several men friends, each on a slip of paper. On three successive mornings choice is made from these. If the name drawn is always the same, it is the name of your future husband. If the lot falls differently every morning, you will never be married.

244. Write two names (of possible lovers), cross out the common letters.

Touch the uncrossed letters, repeating in turn, ”Love, friends.h.i.+p, hate,”