As late as 1740 children troubled with any infirmity were brought to the Venerable Bede’s Well, at Monkton, near Jarrow. A crooked pin was put in, and the well laved dry between each dipping. Pins may sometimes be seen in Lady Byron’s Well at Seaham. There was a custom (which cannot now be practised, as the monument is railed in) of walking nine times round Neville’s Cross. "Then if you stoop down, and lay your head to the turf, you’ll hear the noise of the battle and the clash of the armour." The weather-wise will tell you that if the leaves remain long upon the trees in autumn it is going to be a hard winter, and will bid you notice how the wind blows on New Year’s Eve: "If on New Year’s Eve the night wind blow south, It betokeneth warmth and growth; If west, much milk and fish in the sea; If north, much cold and storms there will be; If east, the trees will bear much fruit; If north-east, flee it, man and brute." Candlemas Day (February 2) should also be observed: "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight; If Candlemas Day be clouds and rain, Winter is gone, and will not come again." Some pretend to prophesy the coming weather from that of the last three days of March. These are called the "borrowing days." "March borrowed from April Three days and they war ill; The first o’ them war wind and weet, The next o’ them war snaw and sleet, The last o’ them war wind and rain, Which gar’d the silly puir ewes come hirpling hame." Of Michaelmas Day it is said: "So many days old the moon is on Michaelmas Day, so many floods after." If it rains on Friday it is sure to rain on Sunday--“wet Friday, wet Sunday." Watch the cat as she washes her face, and if she passes her paw over her ear it will rain to-morrow. The oak and ash-trees are considered to prophesy the weather: "If the oak bud before the ash, We shall be sure to have a splash; But if the ash bud before the oak, We shall have weather as hard as a rock." If you will begin the year auspiciously, be careful that your first foot "is a fair man." Men still go about to "bring the New Year in," and their guerdon is usually a glass of whisky. On no account should a woman be the first foot, for she would bring misfortune. But before this the New Year has been ushered in by the ringing of church bells, and sounding of buzzers from all the collieries. Nothing should be allowed to go out of the house on this day, for that would mean a year of poverty, but as much as possible should be brought in, as that will insure a year of plenty; and for the same reason a new dress should be worn with money in its pocket. Be careful to avoid seeing the first moon of the year through glass; courtesy to her, and wish. The day before Shrove Tuesday is known as Collop Monday, and on it eggs and bacon should be eaten.