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Title: Current Superstitions Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk
Author: Various
Commentator: William Wells Newell
Editor: Fanny D. Bergen
Release Date: August 5, 2006 [EBook #18992]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Transcriber's Note: A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies found in the original book have been maintained in this version. A complete list is found at the end of the text.
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.
PREFACE.
In the "Popular Science Monthly" for July, 1886, there was printed a somewhat miscellaneous assortment of customs and superstitions under the title: Animal and Plant Lore of Children. This article was in the main composed of reminiscences of my own childhood spent in Northern Ohio, though two or three friends of New England rearing contributed personal recollections. Seldom is a line cast which brings ashore such an abundant catch as did my initial folk-lore paper. A footnote had, by the advice of a friend, been appended asking readers to send similar lore to the writer. About seventy answers were received, from all sorts of localities, ranging from Halifax to New Orleans. These numerous letters convinced me that there was even then, before the foundation of the national Society, a somewhat general interest in folk-lore,--not a scientific interest, but a fondness for the subject-matter itself. Many who do not care for folk-lore as a subject of research are pleased to have recalled to them the fancies, beliefs, and customs of childhood and early youth. A single proverb, superstition, riddle, or tradition may, by association of ideas, act like a magic mirror in bringing back hundreds of long-forgotten people, pastimes, and occupations. And whatever makes one young, if only for an hour, will ever fascinate. The greater number of those who kindly responded to the request for additional notes to my animal and plant lore were naturally those of somewhat literary or scientific tastes and pursuits. Many letters were from teachers, many others from physicians, a few from professional scientists, the rest from men and women of various callings, who had been pleased by suggestions that aroused memories of the credulous and unreflecting period in their own lives. The abundant material thus brought in, which consisted of folk-lore items of the most varied kind, was read gratefully and with pleasant surprise.
The items were assorted and catalogued after some provisional fashion of my own. Succeeding papers issued in the "Popular Science Monthly" brought in further accessions. I gradually formed the habit of asking, as opportunity offered, any one and every one for folk-lore. Nurses abound in such knowledge. Domestic help, whether housekeepers, seamstresses, or servants, whether American or foreign, all by patient questioning were induced to give of their full store.
