Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Julia Miller, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of public domain works from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) Transcriber's Note: A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies found in the original book have been maintained in this version. A complete list is found at the end of the text. CURRENT SUPERSTITIONS COLLECTED FROM THE ORAL TRADITION OF ENGLISH SPEAKING FOLK EDITED BY FANNY D. BERGEN _WITH NOTES, AND AN INTRODUCTION BY_ WILLIAM WELLS NEWELL BOSTON AND NEW YORK Published for The American Folk Lore Society by HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY LONDON: DAVID NUTT, 270, 271 STRAND LEIPZIG: OTTO HARRASSOWITZ, QUERSTRASSE, 14 1896 Four hundred and fifty copies printed, of which this is No. ---- Copyright, 1896, BY THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton and Company. PREFACE. In the "Popular Science Monthly" for July, 1886, there was printed a somewhat miscellaneous assortment of customs and superstitions under the title: _Animal and Plant Lore of Children_. This article was in the main composed of reminiscences of my own childhood spent in Northern Ohio, though two or three friends of New England rearing contributed personal recollections. Seldom is a line cast which brings ashore such an abundant catch as did my initial folk-lore paper. A footnote had, by the advice of a friend, been appended asking readers to send similar lore to the writer. About seventy answers were received, from all sorts of localities, ranging from Halifax to New Orleans. These numerous letters convinced me that there was even then, before the foundation of the national Society, a somewhat general interest in folk-lore,--not a scientific interest, but a fondness for the subject-matter itself. Many who do not care for folk-lore as a subject of research are pleased to have recalled to them the fancies, beliefs, and customs of childhood and early youth. A single proverb, superstition, riddle, or tradition may, by association of ideas, act like a magic mirror in bringing back hundreds of long-forgotten people, pastimes, and occupations. And whatever makes one young, if only for an hour, will ever fascinate. The greater number of those who kindly responded to the request for additional notes to my animal and plant lore were naturally those of somewhat literary or scientific tastes and pursuits. Many letters were from teachers, many others from physicians, a few from professional scientists, the rest from men and women of various callings, who had been pleased by suggestions