The trite saying that “children and fools are soothsayers” goes straight to the heart of those familiar superstitions with which the folk-lore of childhood abounds. We, the children of a larger growth, often call to mind with what avidity we listened in our childhood’s days to the nursery tales of giants, dwarfs, ghosts, fairies, and the like creations of pure fancy. We still remember how instantly all the emotions of our childish nature were excited by the recital of these marvels--told us, too, with such an air of truth, that never for a moment did we doubt them. Oh, how we hated Blue Beard, and how we adored Jack the Giant-Killer! Are we not treated, just as soon as we are out of the cradle, as if superstition was the first law of nature? What is the wonder, then, that the effects of these early impressions are not easily got rid of, or the impressions themselves soon, if ever, forgotten? “Brownie” is put into the arms of toddling infants before they can articulate two words plainly. Just as soon as the child is able to prattle a little, it is taught the familiar nursery rhyme of “Bye, bye, Baby Bunting, Papa’s gone a-hunting,” drawn from ancient folk-lore, with which the rabbit and hare are so intimately associated. After the innocent face rhymes, found with little variation, in no less than four different languages, giving names to each of the chubby little features,-- “Eyes winker, Tom Tinker,” etc. come the well-known button rhymes, like this: “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief;” or this one, told centuries ago to children across the water:-- “A tinker, a tailor, A soldier or sailor, A rich man, a poor man, A priest or a parson, A ploughman or a thief.” The virgin soil being thus artfully prepared to receive superstition, the boy or girl goes forth among playmates similarly equipped, with them to practice various forms of conjuration in their innocent sports, without in the least knowing what they are doing. Here are a few of them:-- Making a cross upon the ground before your opponent, at the same time muttering “criss-cross,” when playing at marbles, to make him miss his shot, as I have often seen done in my schoolboy days. This is merely a relic of that superstition attached to making the sign of the cross, as a charm against the power of evil spirits. The innocent sounding words “criss-cross” we believe originally to have been Christ’s Cross. Children of both sexes count apple seeds by means of the pretty jingling rhymes, so like to the German flower oracle, often employed by children of a larger growth. It has been set to music. “One I love, Two I love. Three I love, I say, Four I love with all my heart, Five I cast away; Six he loves, Seven she loves, Eight both love; Nine he comes, Ten he tarries, Eleven he courts, Twelve he marries.”