Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/147

 Some Mountain Superstitions of the South. 135

They often justify both the drinking and the act of patronizing offenders against law by such pretexts as that they need some on hand in case of snake bites. But a more common pretext is that when cows eat grass in certain coves with north exposures, while the dew is on the grass, they take " milk sick," and the disease is communicated to people by means of the milk.

Failure of the milk to foam is the first warning that milk sick is abroad in the land. And yet when a mountain woman milks a cow with one hand only, as she usually does, the chances are sixteen to one that very little if any foam will appear on the milk.

Whiskey is agreed to be a specific for milk sick, and hence whis- key must be kept on hand. " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and therefore the whiskey should be used often for fear that milk sick may come.

As whiskey cannot be had conveniently from other sources, of course it is permissible to buy it from the moonshiners, or make it yourself, just for home consumption, if not a little for "the export trade."

H. M. Witts e.

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