Part 16 (1/2)

364. If your ap.r.o.n string becomes loosened, your true love is thinking of you.

_New York._

365. If your ap.r.o.n drops off, you'll lose your beau. The same is true if you lose your garter.

_Stevens Point, Wis._

366. If you sink a bottle in water, it will weaken your love.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

367. Step over the broom, and you will be an old maid.

368. If a girl wet her ap.r.o.n in was.h.i.+ng, it is a sign that she will have a drunken husband.

_Labrador, Scilly Cove, N.F., and New England._

369. To hang clothes wrong side out is an antidote for a drunken husband.

_Maine._

370. If a girl finds a cobweb in the door, it is a sign that her beau calls elsewhere.

_Northern Ohio._

371. To find many cobwebs in the kitchen means that there is no courting there.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

372. When the collar slips around and the opening comes to the ear, your lover is thinking of you.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

373. If you b.u.t.ton your dress up unevenly, it is a sign that your lover is thinking of you.

_Miramichi, N.B._

374. If you begin to b.u.t.ton your dress unevenly, you will be a widow.

_Central Maine._

375. If you are cross when you are young, you will be an old maid.

_Alabama._

376. If you fall up stairs, you will have a new beau.

_Winn, Me._

377. Tumble up stairs and you'll not get married within the year. (Hence old maids were formerly said to be careful how they went up stairs.) _New England._

378. Stumbling either up or down stairs means you'll be married inside a year.

_Cape Breton._

379. If you sit on a table, you will not be married that year.

_New England, New York, and Alabama._

380. Dropping hairpins from your hair means that your beau is thinking of you.

_General in the United States._

381. If a lady dons a gentleman's hat, it is a sign that she wants a kiss.