Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/120

 which allusion has been made in the earlier part of the chapter.

The following adage, showing the signification of certain marks on the nails, will probably be familiar to many of our readers, and it is questionable whether, even yet, it is not regarded by a few of the less enlightened of the peasantry as something more than a mere saying:—

"Specks on the fingers, Fortune often lingers; Specks on the thumbs, Fortune surely comes."

No sick person could die if the bed or pillow upon which he lay contained a pigeon's feather; and, at an earlier date, the dwellers near the coast firmly believed that life could only depart with the ebbing tide. A horse-shoe nailed against the stable or barn-door, or a broom-stick placed across the threshold of the dwelling, prevented the entrance of witches or evil persons; also a hot heater placed in the churn, and the mark of a cross, protected respectively the cream and baking of dough from their presence. The advent of guests was made known to the family circle by certain conditions of the fire-grate; thus, a flake of soot hanging from the topmost bar foretold a boy visitor, from the second a man, from the third a woman, and from the fourth a girl. Cats were popularly supposed to have the power of drawing the breath, and as a natural consequence the life, out of children when asleep, and for this reason great care was taken to exclude them from bedchambers. Should a dark complexioned person be the first to enter a dwelling on New Year's morning, the household looked forward with confidence to a prosperous year; but if the person happened to be light, more especially if he had red hair, the omen was regarded as unpropitious. Moon-beams shining through the windows of bedrooms were considered injurious to the sleepers, and even capable of distorting their features, or rendering them imbecile. Children were taught to recite these simple lines whenever the moon shone into their chambers:—

"I see the moon, The moon sees me; God bless the priest That christened me."

A tooth, after extraction, was sprinkled with salt and thrown into the fire in order to insure peace and comfort to the person