398. If you have hearts in a figure in a dress or in a shawl, you will be married before it is worn out.

_New York._

399. If you have a new dress and there are roses in it, the person who owns the dress will be married before the dress is worn out.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

400. Pins in the front of a dress waist are a sign that the wearer will be an old maid.

_New Hampshire._

401. If, in making a dress, the thread kinks badly, the person for whom it is made will either die or get married before the dress is worn out.

_Alabama._

402. If you have a dress tried on, and any pin catches in the underclothing, every pin means that it is a year before you will be married; hence dressmakers are especially careful to pin the dress in such a way that it will slip off easily.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

403. If you have good success in building a fire, you will have a smart husband; if bad success, a lazy husband.

_St. John, N.B., and Ohio._

404. If a lock of hair over the forehead ("widow's lock") be cut before marriage, the girl will be a widow.

_Labrador._

405. Get a lady friend to knit you a yellow garter. She must ask a gentleman unknown to you to knit ten rows. You will meet and marry the gentleman within a year.

406. The exchange of one yellow garter means a proposal in six months.

_Washington, D.C._

407. If a girl wears a yellow garter (which has been given to her) every day for a year, or every day and night for six months, at the end of that time she will be married.

_Montreal, P.Q._

408. If you burn a lover's letter, he will never marry you.

_Central Maine._

409. If, at a dinner, a single person is inadvertently placed between two married people (husband or wife), it means marriage for him or her within a year.

410. If you pa.s.s between two men on the street, you'll marry both of them sometime.

_Champaign, Ill._

411. If you drop a knitting-needle, you won't be married during the present year.

412. If you break many needles in a garment, it will be worn at a wedding.

413. If you draw blood from a p.r.i.c.k of the needle while making a garment, it is a sign you will be kissed the first time you wear it.

_Boston, Ma.s.s._

414. Should needles break while sewing on a new garment, it is a sign that the owner will be married before it is worn out.

_New York._

415. When a young man goes to see a girl for the first time, and the signs of the zodiac are in the heart, they will one day marry.

_Harmony, Me._

416. If you step on a cigar stub, you will marry the first man you meet.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

417. Two spoons in a cup is the sign of a wedding.

_Bathurst, N.B., and Wisconsin._

418. If you get two spoons in your cup or saucer, you'll marry a second husband or wife.

419. If a couple out walking together stumble, it is a sign that they will be married.

_Labrador._

420. Sit on the table, Married before you're able.

_Mattawamkeag, Me._

421. If a girl gets the last piece of bread on a plate at the table, she will have a handsome husband.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

422. If all of three dishes at the table are eaten, all of the unmarried people at the table will be married within the year.

_Northern Ma.s.sachusetts._

423. "If the tea-kettle boils, you will boil your beaux away," is an old saying.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

424. If you have a cup of tea handed to you, and there are little bits floating on top, they represent the number of husbands you will have--one, two, or three.

425. A girl that takes her thimble to the table will be an old maid.

_Northern Ohio._

426. Three in a row, Meet your beau.

The one in the middle will have him.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

427. Three lamps in a row, the one who sets down the third will be soon married.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

428. Three lamps in a row foretell a wedding in the family.

_New York._

429. To look into a tumbler when you are drinking is a sign that you will be an old maid. If you look over the side, you are a flirt.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

430. To wash the hands under a pump denotes that you will be a widow.

_Chestertown, Md._

CHAPTER VII.

WISHES.