84. "I remember that as a child, while walking with a companion, she cried: 'Why, a fairy lighted on my hand!' The child believed that this had been the case." Cambridge, Mass.
85. The children used to fearfully look in the well, and on seeing the reflected face in the bottom, would cry out, "Face in the well, pull me down in the well," and would then run away quickly. Bruynswick, N.Y.
86. At the age of six or seven years, a child, while going to a spring to draw water, saw a little creature with wings fly from one star to another, leaving behind an arc of light. She cried to her aunt: "Oh, aunt, I saw a little gold-boy!" Her aunt, somewhat shocked, rebuked the child, who insisted on the literal truth of her vision. Mansfield, O.
87. Stick your thumb through a knothole and say:--
Old Gran'f'ther Graybeard, without tooths or tongue, If you'll give me a little finger I'll give you a thumb. Thumb'll go away and little finger'll come.
88. Go to the woodpile and say, "Johnnie with your fingers, and Willie with your toes," and something (suthin) will come out of the woodpile and tear off all your clothes (close). Gilsum, N.H.
PUNISHMENT.
89. An "eyewinker" placed in the palm of the hand will cause the ferule to break when the teacher strikes the palm with it. Portsmouth, N.H.
90. Pine tar or pitch in the hand will prevent the blows of the ferule from causing pain. (Portsmouth, N.H., sixty years ago.)
Believed by most schoolboys there at that time.
SPORT.
91. At croquet, if your ball was about to be sent flying, the safeguard was to draw an imaginary X with your mallet, saying, "Criss cross." It made your enemy's foot slip, and many a girl would get "mad" and not play, if you did it often. Brookline, Mass.
92. Children believe it is unlucky to step on the cracks in the flagstones, which are believed to contain poison. It is a game to walk a long distance on such stones without setting foot on the interstices. Cambridge, Mass.
93. When children are tired of swinging, or think it is time for the swinger to give way to another, the phrase is "let the old cat die." After this has been said, it is unlucky to quicken the motion of the swing again. General.
VARIOUS.
94. When a child loses a tooth, if the tongue is not put into the cavity a gold tooth will come in place of it. New York and Northern Ohio.
95. The ideas of children about the significance of color are mixed. Thus in croquet no child (in a town near Boston) would take the red ball, because it was supposed to mean hate. Blue is the favorite color.
96. Red and yellow, catch a fellow. Brookline, Mass. Pink and blue, he'll catch you. Deerfield, Mass. Pink and blue, he'll be true. Deerfield, Mass. Black and white, hold him tight. Pennsylvania.
97. An old superstition which still survives among children is, that if they crawl over an older person and do not crawl back they will never grow again. Haverhill, Mass.
98. "We used always as children to get X's scored with a pin on our new 'village gaiters.' We were told it was to make them safe and take the slipperiness off." Brookline, Mass.
99. Children say that the one who takes the first bite of an apple that is to be passed about for eating will fail in his or her lesson. Chelsea, Mass.
100. Boys believe that they can prevent the stitch in the side which is liable to be induced by running, by means of holding a pebble under the tongue. "I believe I could run all day, and not get tired, if I could hold a pebble under my tongue," said one. Cambridge, Mass.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
BEAUTY.
101. If a person is very handsome, it is a sign that he will have one of the infectious diseases of childhood (measles, whooping cough, etc.) more than once. Massachusetts.
DIMPLE.
