But this it does not
do. The practice originated in the belief that the slow or dour fire was
spell-bound by witchcraft, and the poker was so placed that it would
form the shape of a cross with the front bar of the grate, and thus the
witch power be destroyed. In early times when the poker was placed in
this position, the person who placed it repeated an _Ave Marie_ or
_Paternoster_, but this feature of the ceremony died out, and with it
the reason for the practice was forgotten. I have seen it done in
private houses, and very frequently in the public rooms of country inns.
Indeed, in such public rooms it was the common practice when the servant
put on a fire, that after sweeping up the dust she placed the poker in
this position, and left the room. Probably she had no idea why she did
it, but merely followed the custom.
In a general chapter, such as this, I can find room for some things
which could not properly find a place in other chapters. The subject of
omens has by no means been exhausted. The late George Smith, in his work
upon the Chaldean Account of Genesis, says that in ancient Babylonia,
1600 B.
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