Transcriber’s Note
A number of typographical errors have been maintainedin the current version of this book. They are markedand the corrected text is shown in the popup. A list of theseerrors is found at the end of this book.
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.
In the “Popular Science Monthly” for July, 1886, there was printed asomewhat miscellaneous assortment of customs and superstitions under thetitle: Animal and Plant Lore of Children. This article was in the maincomposed of reminiscences of my own childhood spent in Northern Ohio,though two or three friends of New England rearing contributed personalrecollections. Seldom is a line cast which brings ashore such an abundantcatch as did my initial folk-lore paper. A footnote had, by the advice ofa friend, been appended asking readers to send similar lore to thewriter. About seventy answers were received, from all sorts oflocalities, ranging from Halifax to New Orleans. These numerous lettersconvinced me that there was even then, before the foundation of thenational Society, a somewhat general interest in folk-lore,—not ascientific interest, but a fondness for the subject-matter itself. Manywho do not care for folk-lore as a subject of research are pleased tohave recalled to them the fancies, beliefs, and customs of childhood andearly youth. A single proverb, superstition, riddle, or tradition may, byassociation of ideas, act like a magic mirror in bringing back hundredsof long-forgotten people, pastimes, and occupations. And whatever makesone young, if only for an hour, will ever fascinate. The greater numberof those who kindly responded to the request for additional notes to myanimal and plant lore were naturally those of somewhat literary orscientific tastes and pursuits. Many letters were from teachers, manyothers from physicians, a few from professional scientists, the rest frommen and women of various callings, who had been pleased by suggestionsthat aroused memories of the credulous and unreflecting period in theirown lives. The abundant ma