Current Superstitions Part 16

364. If your ap.r.o.n string becomes loosened, your true love is thinking of you.

_New York._

365. If your ap.r.o.n drops off, you'll lose your beau. The same is true if you lose your garter.

_Stevens Point, Wis._

366. If you sink a bottle in water, it will weaken your love.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

367. Step over the broom, and you will be an old maid.

368. If a girl wet her ap.r.o.n in was.h.i.+ng, it is a sign that she will have a drunken husband.

_Labrador, Scilly Cove, N.F., and New England._

369. To hang clothes wrong side out is an antidote for a drunken husband.

_Maine._

370. If a girl finds a cobweb in the door, it is a sign that her beau calls elsewhere.

_Northern Ohio._

371. To find many cobwebs in the kitchen means that there is no courting there.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

372. When the collar slips around and the opening comes to the ear, your lover is thinking of you.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

373. If you b.u.t.ton your dress up unevenly, it is a sign that your lover is thinking of you.

_Miramichi, N.B._

374. If you begin to b.u.t.ton your dress unevenly, you will be a widow.

_Central Maine._

375. If you are cross when you are young, you will be an old maid.

_Alabama._

376. If you fall up stairs, you will have a new beau.

_Winn, Me._

377. Tumble up stairs and you'll not get married within the year. (Hence old maids were formerly said to be careful how they went up stairs.) _New England._

378. Stumbling either up or down stairs means you'll be married inside a year.

_Cape Breton._

379. If you sit on a table, you will not be married that year.

_New England, New York, and Alabama._

380. Dropping hairpins from your hair means that your beau is thinking of you.

_General in the United States._

381. If a lady dons a gentleman's hat, it is a sign that she wants a kiss.

382. If your lips itch, it is a sign some one will kiss you.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

383. If the outside of your nose itches, some one out of town loves you, and if the inside of your nose, then you are loved by some one in town.

_Western Ma.s.sachusetts._

384. If a gentleman and lady are riding and are tipped out, they will be married.

_Nashua, N.H._

385. Make a rhyme when talking, and you'll see your true love before Sat.u.r.day night.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

386. Should your shoestring come unloosened,

'T is a sure sign and a true, At that very moment Your true love thinks of you.

_New York._

387. If your shoe comes untied, your sweetheart is talking about you.

_Alabama._

388. If you want to sneeze and can't, it is a sign some one loves you, and doesn't dare to tell it.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

389. If you can't drink a cup of tea, you must be love-sick.

_Labrador._

390. Stub your toe See your beau.

_Ma.s.sachusetts and Maine._

391. If four persons cross hands in shaking hands on taking leave, one will marry before the year is out.

_Prince Edward Island, Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts, and New York._

392. If hands are crossed at the table while pa.s.sing a dish, a wedding will follow. The top hand belongs to the person who will be married.

_Pennsylvania._

393. To have two teaspoons in a saucer signifies marriage in a year.

394. If a gentleman stayed to dinner and by accident got two knives, two forks, or two spoons, at his plate, he would be married within a year, and there was no help for it.

_Connecticut._

395. Knock over your chair on rising from the table, and you won't get married that year.

_Peabody, Ma.s.s., New York, and Talladega, Ala._

396. If a girl sew a b.u.t.ton on the clothing of a marriageable man, she will marry him within the year.

_New England._

397. If you have a dress with rings for a figure in it, it is a sign you will be married before it is worn out.

_New York._