Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/177

 Charms, etc. 165 palm of her own hand. If this can be done the test is successful. When a little older there are many ways in which our maidens "try for their sweethearts." A few of the rules prescribed for these rites, which have been handed down from generation to generation, may be worth transcribing. " Draw a bracken fern, cut it at the bottom of the stalk ; there you will find your lover's initials." Take an apple-pip between the forefinger and the thumb, flip it into the air, saying, " North, south, east, west, tell me where my love doth rest," and watch the direction in which it falls. Go into the fields at the time of the new moon and pluck a piece of herb yarrow ; put it when going to bed under your pillow, saying — " Good night, fair yarrow. Thrice good night to thee ; I hope before to-morrow's dawn My true love I shall see." If you are to be married your sweetheart will appear to you in your dreams. " Look out of your bed-room window on St. Valentine's morn, note the first man you see, and you will marry the same, or one of the name." To lose your apron or your garter shows that your lover is thinking of you. Three candles burning at the same time is the sign of a wedding ; and the girl who is nearest to the door, the cupboard, and the shortest candle, will be married first. When two people accidentally say the same thing at the same time the one who finishes first will be married first. There are a great number of omens similar to these last, equally stupid, and not worthy of notice. " Friday is a cross day for marriage," and " If you marry in Lent you'll live to repent." Should you in marrying " Change the name, and not the letter. You'll change for the worse, and not for the better." but it is lucky if your initials form a word. "The young men of a place, when they know that a person is paying attention to a girl or woman, seize hold of him, place him