By clapping the hands close to it, if the current
produced by this, blew it off at the first clap, the stranger would
visit that day. Every clap indicated the day before the visit would be
made. This is still a common practice, of which the following lines
taken from _Glasgow Weekly Herald_, 1877, is a graphic illustration:--
"_Rab_--
Eh! Willie, come your wa's, and peace be wi' ye;
Wi' a' my heart, I'm truly glad to see ye.
Wee Geordie, wha sat gazing in the fire,
In that prophetic mood I oft admire,
Declar'd he saw a stranger on the grate--
And Geordie's auguries are true as fate.
He gied his hands a dap wi' a' his micht,
And said that stranger's coming here the nicht,
Wi' the first clap it's off. Ye see how true
Appears the future on wee Geordie's view.
What's in the wind, or what may be the news,
That brings ye here, in heedless waste o' shoes?"
An eclipse of the sun was looked on as an omen of coming calamity. This
is a very ancient superstition, and remained with us to a very late
date, if it is even yet extinct.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214