Townsmen when they wished to go on a pleasure
excursion to the country, and careless or unsettled which way to go,
would apply to this form of lot. In the old song of "Jock Burnie" there
occurs the following verse:--
"En' on en' he poised his rung, then
Watch'd the airt its head did fa',
Whilk was east, he lapt and sung then,
For there his dear bade, Meg Macraw."
This practice was common with boys in the country fifty years ago, both
for determining where to go for pleasure, or if in a game one of their
number had hidden, and could not be found, as a last resort the stick
was poised, and in whatever direction the stick fell, search was renewed
in that direction.
Such things as these seem trifling, and it would seem folly to treat
them seriously; but they were not always trifling matters. Some of our
Biblical scholars say that it was to this kind of divining that the
prophet Hosea referred when he said, "Their staff declareth unto them,"
and at the present day there are nations who practice such methods for
determining important affairs of life.
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