Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 4, 1893.djvu/266

 Tokens of Death.—Joseph. Well, Sir, I do believe in tokens afore death. I do, for I sin em, Sir. The folks in this row says as a crow flyin over the roof is a sign o death. An a dog howlin.

His daughter. Yes, a dog howlin is a token, I believe.

Joseph. But I sin em, Sir. When I was a lad, me an me two brothers was down be the hedge, when, "Hullo!" says I, "tharr's a white rabbit!" An we chased un as furr as the hedge, an then a was clear gone—not a track of him nowhurr! An up we went to the house, an first thing we saw was mother at the gate a cryin an sayin, as how father had been taken that very hinstant. Me an my brother, we seed it, an thot we'd got a prize; an 'twas but a token o death, Sir. An tharr was some lads in a arrchard—a happle-orchard (sic)—an says they, "Let's have a bit o them apples!" So up tha climbs, an tharr tha was, a settin in the tree, on the branches like, Sir, when—"Lor bless us", says one, "tharr's a tame rabbit, a white 'n!"—an the rabbit run right under the tree. An 'twas a token of thurr master's death, an die a did. I have a heerd tell by men as I knows, an they sin it themselves, that a Christmas eve, at a certain hour, all the cattle an beasts, be they what you will, 'll kneel down wharr tha be. No, Sir, I haven't sin em meself, but I knows them as have.—[Taken down from the lips of Joseph Pearce, a blind man, who lives at Droitwich in Worcestershire.]

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How to Locate a Drowned Body.—The Suffolk Times and Mirror of Friday, November 4, 1892, under the head of "A Norfolk Superstition", gives the following account:—"Last week (writes our Thetford correspondent) information was received at Thetford that a middle-aged woman had been missing from Brandon since October nth, and had been seen at Thetford. Her friends naturally became alarmed about her, and had serious fears as to her safety, and, as they could hear nothing about her, they asked that the river between Thetford and Brandon might be dragged. Instead of this, recourse was had to a very curious procedure, in which, it appears, some people really believe. On Tuesday afternoon the Navigation Superintendent got a boat and rowed down the river accompanied by a policeman, who was mildly and slowly beating a big drum. It was stated that, if they came to any part of the river in which there might be a dead body, a difference in the sound of the drum would be distinctly noticed. The experiment, however, was a failure, and, later on, it was reported that a person answering to the description of the missing woman was at Elvedon. This proved to be correct, and she was ultimately taken home, to the great relief of her friends." I fancy this belief is uncommon in Norfolk—at least, I have never met