79. If two persons, while walking, divide so as to pass an obstruction one on one side and one on the other, they will quarrel. Children avert this catastrophe by exclaiming, “bread and butter,” which is a counter charm. On the other hand, if they say “pepper and salt,” the quarrel is made doubly certain. So universal is the practice that many grown people of the best social class (women) still involuntarily avoid such separation, and even use the childish words. In country towns, when girls are walking with young men, if the latter pass on the other side of the tree it is considered as rude, and as a token of indifference; in such a case one girl will cast a meaning look on her companion as much as to say, “he does not care for you.” To use the local phrase, it would be said, So-and-so is “mad” with —— (naming the girl).
Massachusetts.
80. In passing a tree in the middle of the sidewalk, children used to pass it on one side going one way and on the other side going the other way for luck.
Billerica, Mass.
MYTHOLOGY.
81. The stars are angels’ eyes.
Westminster, Mass.
82. The stars are holes made in the sky, so that the light of heaven shines through. “I remember, as a child, that this idea was suggested to me on seeing the effect of holes in the lamp shade. I think, however, that I rather liked to suppose it true and firmly believed in the explanation.”
Cambridge, Mass.
83. “As a child, I constantly looked into lilies and tulips in the expectation of finding fairies lying within them.”