Current Superstitions Part 7

142. If the thumb sticks up in the closed fist, you are either capable or honest, probably the latter, as thieves are said to double theirs in.

_New England._

143. If you cannot make your thumb and one finger meet around your wrist, you are a glutton.

_Province of Quebec._

144. If you cannot touch the tips of your little finger and first finger together behind the two middle fingers, on both hands, then you will not marry the man you want to marry.

_Province of Quebec._

145. Clasp your fingers, and if the right thumb lap over the left you were born in the daytime. If the left overlap, you were born at night.

146. The number of folds on your wrist as you bend your hand shows the number of thirties you are to live.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

147. If the ends of the fingers are capable of being bent far back, it indicates a thief.

MOLES.

148. A mole on the eyebrow denotes that one will be hanged. On the ear it denotes that he will be drowned.

_Chestertown, Md._

149. Mole above breath Means wealth.

150. Moles on the neck, Money by the peck.

_Prince Edward Island and Northern Ohio._

151. A mole on the neck indicates that its owner will be hanged.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

152. A mole on the side of the neck means a death by hanging.

_Central Maine._

153. A mole on the arm indicates riches.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

154. Mole on your arm, Live on a farm.

_Alabama._

155. A mole on the arm means that you will fight many battles, and will be very successful in them.

_Prince Edward Island._

NOSE.

156. A vein across the nose is an omen of short life.

_General in the United States._

TEETH.

157. A broad s.p.a.ce between the teeth indicates a liar.

_Biddeford, Me._

158. Broad front teeth mean that one is generous.

_Biddeford, Me._

159. A s.p.a.ce between the two front upper incisors signifies wealth.

_Mansfield, O._

160. If the front teeth are wide apart, it means one can't keep a secret.

If overlapping, one is close-mouthed.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

161. Do not trust people with pointed teeth.

_Chestertown, Md._

162. If you have a s.p.a.ce between your teeth, it is a sign that you will die of consumption.

_Baltimore, Md._

163. A lump (enlarged papilla) on the tongue is a sign one has told a lie.

_Mansfield, O._

CHAPTER IV.

PROJECTS.

Love divinations or love charms, I have found, are popularly known as "projects" in parts of New England and on Mt. Desert. On Prince Edward Island and in various parts of the Canadian provinces the practice of such divinations is usually spoken of as "trying tricks." If a number of young people are together, one will say, "Let's try tricks." In the Middle and Western United States the usual colloquial expression for these love divinations is "trying fortunes." One girl will say to another at some appropriate time, "Let's try our fortunes."

APPLES.

164. Eat an apple at midnight before the gla.s.s, saying,--

Whoever my true love may be, Come and eat this apple with me,

holding the lamp in the hand. The true love will appear.

_Winn, Me._

165. Throw a whole apple-paring on the floor, after swinging it three times around your head. It will form your true love's initial letter.

_General in the United States._

APPLE-SEEDS.

166. When eating an apple, snap it with the fingers and name it for a person of the opposite s.e.x. Count the fully developed seeds (all of the others are kisses), and the last one must correspond to the following formula:--