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THE MYTHS AND FABLES OF TO-DAY


      *      *      *      *      *      *

BY THE SAME AUTHOR


  =The Watch Fires of '76= Illustrated              =$1.25=
  =The Campaign of Trenton=                           =.50=
  =Burgoyne's Invasion of 1777=                       =.50=
  =The Taking of Louisburg=                           =.50=
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  =Our Colonial Homes= Illustrated                   =2.50=
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  =Old Landmarks of Middlesex= Illustrated           =2.00=
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  =The Heart of the White Mountains= Illustra'd      =7.50=
  =The Same= Tourists' Edition                       =3.00=
  =Old Boston Taverns= Paper                          =.25=
  =Around the Hub= A Boys' Book about Boston         =1.12=
  =New England Legends and Folk Lore= Illus'd        =2.00=
  =The Making of New England= Illustrated            =1.50=
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  =The Making of Virginia and Middle Colonies=       =1.50=
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  =The Pine Tree Coast= Illustrated                  =1.50=

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      *      *      *      *      *      *


THE MYTHS AND FABLES OF TO-DAY


"_Lord, what fools these mortals be!_"


[Illustration: HALLOWE'EN.]


THE MYTHS AND FABLES OF TO-DAY

by

SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE

Illustrations by Frank T. Merrill







Boston
Lee and Shepard
MCM

Copyright, 1900, by Samuel Adams Drake.

_All rights reserved._

THE MYTHS AND FABLES OF TO-DAY.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.




CONTENTS


                                                      PAGE

     I. A RECKONING WITH TIME                            1

    II. THE FOLK-LORE OF CHILDHOOD                      25

   III. WEATHER LORE                                    34

    IV. SIGNS OF ALL SORTS                              47

     V. CHARMS TO GOOD LUCK                             55

    VI. CHARMS AGAINST DISEASE                          85

   VII. OF FATE IN JEWELS                              109

  VIII. OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE                           122

    IX. OF EVIL OMENS                                  144

     X. OF HAUNTED HOUSES, PERSONS, AND  PLACES        182

    XI. OF PRESENTIMENTS                               208

   XII. THE DIVINING-ROD                               229

  XIII. WONDERS OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE               234

   XIV. "SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT"                 244

    XV. FORTUNE-TELLING, ASTROLOGY, AND PALMISTRY      259




[Illustration]

I

A RECKONING WITH TIME

    "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
    superstitious."


To say that superstition is one of the facts of history is only to
state a truism. If that were all, we might treat the subject from
a purely philosophical or historical point of view, as one of the
inexplicable phenomena of an age much lower in intelligence than our
own, and there leave it.

But if,