The company may not remain together after twelve o’clock. When the old year is out and the new year in, you must embrace, and kiss each other, and then go home. You must not yet go to bed, however, but must first devote an hour to solitude, to reflect upon all which the past year has brought with it, and to commit to writing the chief occurrences, as well as the state of your minds. It would be well to keep a book for this purpose, in which you should read and write only on a new-year’s eve, and at other times keep carefully stored away. I have always done this, and I can assure you, that it is with a feeling of sad, sweet interest, that I now read, each new-year’s eve, of the eighty-nine years of my life. THE NUTSHELL WITCHERY. Among the witcheries which you may perform on a new-year’s eve, there is one to which I have not alluded. Each person of the company, to wit, takes a _nutshell_, and, after lighting a _wax taper_, places it in the shell. A basin of water is then brought. You now place the nutshells, with the burning tapers in them, in the basin. Some will incline toward each other as they float along, others will repel each other, until, at last, all are extinguished or sunk. What conclusions in reference to the future, are to be drawn from the various movements of these tiny magic skiffs, your own quick wits will tell you. THE BRIDGE OMEN. After you have gone home, and have devoted an hour to the solitary task which I counselled you (see CANDLE SPELL), take a _glass of water_, cut a small _chip of wood_, and lay it crosswise upon the glass, so that it stretches like a bridge, from one end to the opposite one. Then place this glass under your bed. The consequence will be that you will dream during the night that you are walking over a bridge, and that you fall into the water. A gentleman, however, appears and rescues you. This same gentleman, whom you will see very distinctly, be careful to remember, for he is your future husband. A gentleman can make the same experiment, and he will dream the same thing, with the difference only, that it is a lady who rescues him, and she is to be his future wife. THE HAIR SPELL. If you wish any person to think of you, pluck a hair from your head, and blow it out into the air toward that quarter of the heavens in which the person lives, while, at the same time, you call out the name of this person _three times_, at the top of your voice. During this you must be entirely alone, and must have thought intently upon the person for, at least, a quarter of an hour beforehand. At the same instant he will experience a strange unearthly shudder or thrill, and his thoughts will turn irresistibly toward you. SIGN WHEN YOU WET YOUR APRON. When you are washing, if you are apt _to wet your apron_ a great deal, it is a sign that your future husband will be a tippler. Take good heed therefore!