Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/99

 Collectanea. 83

If a lady were asked to sing a song, and she was not anxious to do so, she would decline by singing the following verse : —

'* Vou have asked me to sing, and I'm sure I'm quite sorry, I cannot oblige the good company here, If I were to begin you would see in a hurry, The guests would depart and the coast would be clear."

( Theti with its proper tune .•)

A shepherd was watching his flock by a fountain — (Oh that is too high for a voice with a tone) But by your permission I'll try at another.

( Then with its proper time :)

A North-country lass up to London did pass — '

And that is so slow I will never get done.

So I hope you'll excuse me, for I'm sure I can't sing."

It used to be the custom for the hostess, in pouring out tea, to say to each guest, — "Is your tea agreeable ?," to which the answer was, usually, — " Quite, thank you." If you wished for another cup of ten, you placed the teaspoon on the right side of the tea cup, but, if you did not want any more, on the left side ; and in cutting bread and butter, it was considered polite to ask, — " Which do you prefer, upper-side or lower-side ? " — meaning the top or bottom of a loaf.

The belief in witches was very strong in those times. I remem- ber an old woman called "Shaking Charlotte," who was afflicted with palsy, and we were always told she was a witch, and the children used to run away when they saw her coming, but I never heard that she did any harm. If you could scratch the supposed witch with a pin and fetch blood, she was unable to harm you. An old lady once told me that, many years before, she was in a low, depressed state of mind, and her brother came to see her. He said solemnly, — "Jane, you're bewitched. I'll tell you what I will do. I will put a cross over your door, and then no unholy thing can enter in." He then placed two straws in the shape of a cross over the doorway. She did recover, but whether in con- sequence of the cross or not, she couldn't say.

My mother used to speak of a boy who was supposed to have been bewitched. She told me his name, but I have forgotten it.

•'This is not the orieinal line.