Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/62

54 the next harvest. They have always a kirn, whipped cream, with often a ring in it, and sometimes meal sprinkled over it. The girls must all be dressed in lilac prints, they all dance, and at twelve o'clock they eat potatoes and herrings. "Now about Brownies. Isabella Ross's mother was a servant in a castle (so she called it) near Ullapool, where a Brownie always came, generally about the gloaming, and walked about the house ; she saw him very often. If there was a party, or more work to do than usual, he helped but never spoke. He was peculiar looking, short and broad. When anyone wanted to get rid of him, they had to weave and make a coat and bonnet, and give them to him with some Gaelic words. He took them, and then in Gaelic spoke and said, 'Good-bye, goodbye, you will never see me more.' "At the time of digging the new potatoes everyone must taste them ; if not, the spirits in them take offence and the potatoes would not keep. "At Hallow e'en they sweep round the peat stack; if they did not do that, the peats would be 'like butter on a hot stone.' If a girl sweeps, she expects to see her intended husband, who takes the broom from her and finishes. "The first time they see the new moon they must turn one of their garments outside in and expect a present before the moon wanes."

Unlawful Cures.— The following newspaper cutting is worth preserving. I have found it among a bundle of old Lincolnshire newspapers which came accidentally into my hands a year or two ago: —

"Nothing could be more absurd than the notions regarding some of these supposed cures : a ring made of the hinge of a coffin had the power of relieving cramps, which were also mitigated by having a rusty old sword hung up by the bedside. Nails driven in an oak tree prevented the tooth-ache. A halter that had served in hanging a criminal was an infallible remedy for a head-ache when tied round the head ; this affection was equally cured by the moss growing upon a hmnan skull, dried and pulverised, and taken as cephalic snuff. A