Part 27

Mr. Coxe.

More concerning throwing the shoe will be found under “Marriage.”

Note the poetical reference in another chapter.

Boston Transcript, February 13, 1899.

In “Farmer and Moore’s Collections,” i., 136.

Another way, laid down by some authorities, was that any unmarried woman fasting on Midsummer Eve, and at midnight laying a clean cloth with bread, cheese, and ale, and sitting down as if going to eat--the street door being left open--the person whom she is afterwards to marry will come into the room and drink to her by bowing, afterwards fill the glass, make another bow, and retire.--Fielding.

A reference to this is found in Cooper’s “Spy.”

Quetelet, on the calculation of probabilities.

May Martin was made to touch the face of her dead child (murdered by her to prevent a discovery), the fresh blood came forth, “whereupon she confessed.”

For more about these places see “New England Legends.”

Partly taken from Felt’s “Annals of Ipswich,” partly from the relations of others.

The rule, as laid down by Cotton Mather in “More Wonders” was this: “When there has been a murder committed, an apparition of the slain party accusing of any man, altho’ such apparitions have oftner spoke true than false, is not enough to convict the man of that murder; but yet it is a sufficient occasion for Magistrates to make a particular inquiry,” etc.

“Forty-one Years in India.”

An apple bough also is made use of in some cases.

According to the prophecy in Joel ii, 10, and Matthew xxiv, 29, then “shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.”

In “Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast.”

For more about her, see “New England Legends and Folk-Lore.”

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Transcriber's note:

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Frequent use of dialect and archaic spelling retained.

Simple typographical errors were corrected. Occasional unmatched quotation marks were retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Page 19: the closing quotation mark after “lost his head.” has no matching opening mark.