Love Secrets.

Southland Times, Issue 8052, 6 July 1885, Page 4

Love Secrets.

Mr Henderson supplies two timely cautions from Border folk-lore. A girl can ' scarcely do a worse thing than boil a d;sh-clout in her crock.' She wi'l be sure, in consequence, to lose all her lovers, or, in Scotch phrase, ' boil a' her lads awa' ;' • and in Durham it is believed that if you put milk in your ffes before Sugar you lose your sweetheart.' We may add that unless a girl fasts on St Catherine's Day (November 25J she will never have a good husband. Nothing can be luskiet for cither bachelor or girl than to be placed inadvertently at some social gathering between & man and bis wife. The person so seated ■will be married before the year is oat. Song, play, and sonnet have diffused far and wide the custom of blowing off the petals of a ftewer, saying the while, ' He loves me — loves me not' When this important business has been settled in the affirmative a hint may be useful for the lover going courting. If he meets a hare, he mast at once tnra back. . Nothing can well be more ualucky. Witcheß are food of thai, shape, and he will certainly be crossed in love. Experts say tbat after the nest me;?l has been eaten the evil influence is expended, and the lover can again hie forth in safety. In making pre«ents to each other the happy pair muss remember on no account to give each other a knife or pair of scissors. Such a present effectua'ly cuts love asunder. Take care, too, not to fall in love with one the initial of whcsa surname is th°- same as youra. It is quite certain that the union of such cannot be nappy. This love secret haa been reduced into rhyme for the benefit of treacherous memories : To change the and not the letter la a change for the worse, and not for the batter. This love-3ore belongs to the Northern mythology, else the Romans would never have used that universal formula, • Übi tit Cains ego Caia? These directions and cautions mus* surely have brought our pair of happy lovers t6 the wedding-day. Even yet they are not safe from malign influences, bnt folk-lore does not forget tbeir welfa-e. If the bride has" been courted by other sweethearts than the one she has now definitely chosen, there is a fear kst the discarded suitors should entertain unkindly feelings toward her: To obviate all unpleasant consequences from this the bride must wear a sixpeoce in her left shoe nmil Bbc it * kirked,' say the Scotch, And on her return home if a horsa stands looting at her throagh a gateway, or even lingers along the xoad leading to her new home, it is a very bad omen for her future happiness. When once the marriage-knot is tied it is so indissolcble that folk-lore for the most part leaves the joung couple alone. It is imperative however, that the wife should never take off her wedding-ring. To do so is to open a door to innumerable calamities, and a window at the same time through which love may fly. Should the husband not find that Deace and quietness which he has a right to expect in matrimony, but discovers unfortnnately that he hss married a scold or a shrew, he must make the best of the case. Yet folk-lore has still one simple, which •will al'evfate his sorrow. Any night be will he may taste fasting a root of radi-h, say our old Saxon forefathers, and next day he will be proof against a woman's chatter. By growing a large bed of radishes and supping off .them regularly, it is thus possible that he mi ?ht exlnu^t after a time the verbosity of bis spouse, but we are bouad to add thai we feave never heard of such an ea«y cure being effected*. The ducking-stool was found more to the purpose in past days. — Chicago Tiibune, .