Cut them on Monday, cut them for health; Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth; Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news; Cut them on Thursday, a new pair of shoes; Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow; Cut them on Saturday, a present to-morrow; But he that on Sunday cut his horn, Better that he had never been born are known everywhere, with variations, even German and Danish children having their own versions of this rhyme.

A Hen's Tooth

Sussex mothers grow peony plants that they may make their roots into beads to put round the baby's neck when it is cutting its teeth. This, they think, will vastly assist the ease of the cutting. Many country people will not throw away a tooth, it must be "burnt with fire." If it is thrown away, some animal may pick it up, and then, it is said, the unfortunate child will have a tooth like that particular animal. The writer well remembers being told when about six years

Children of age that she would have a hen's tooth if she did not give her ever-dropping teeth to nurse to be burnt.

Scotch mothers fill the empty cavity with salt, and throw the tooth in the fire, saying:

Fire, fire, burn bone,

God send me my tooth again.

Sussex mothers fear the quick cutting of teeth, for they say:

Quickly toothed and quickly go, Quickly will thy mother have moe (more).

Babies who Die Unbaptised

The early Christian missionaries to this island taught that if a person died unbaptised, the future of his soul was imperilled. This, more than all the powers of doctrine, made their converts hasten to be baptised. From this teaching there has arisen a great number of strange beliefs about babes who die unbaptised.

In Cantire it is believed that the unbaptised child is doomed neither to heaven nor hell, it is neither lost nor saved, but must wander restlessly on earth, and become "a shrieker of a burying-place." Shakespeare speaks in "Macbeth" of

Pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, and probably alludes to this popular superstition.

Cornish people maintain that these unfortunate children become "piskies" (fairies), and that the sad wail of the wind in lonely woods is the voice of them asking for mercy. English mothers in different counties believe that unbaptised babies flit sadly over the earth as "will-o'-the-wisps," begging in their inarticulate manner for consecrated earth to be thrown over them, so that they may rest in peace.

There is an old story of a priest who was riding home across the Fen country one evening, when three will-o'-the-wisps flew about him. In mercy he put out his hand and blessed them, and bid their souls rest. Even as he did so, a host of others - white, fluttering, and moaning - appeared, also clamouring for redemption. So dense did the attendant hosts become that the priest was almost overwhelmed. In desperation he attempted to gallop his horse onwards; but the animal, shivering with fear, refused to move.

Suddenly the priest remembered that a little further on lay a church with a graveyard, so in faith he called out, "To the consecrated earth!" The unhappy spirits vanished, and appeared again in even greater numbers as he reached the churchyard. With his hands he hastily dug up some earth from a newly made grave, and flung it around him. In an instant the will-o'-the-wisps disappeared, and out of the earth came a great sigh of relief.

To fret for a dead child is, according to a Northumbrian belief, not only bad for the mother, but also prevents the baby from resting in its grave. Stories are told of the spirit of the little one appearing to the distracted mother and begging her to be comforted, for it was disturbed by her sorrow.

The Gift Of Second Sight

A mother who dies in giving birth to a child unknowingly endows the little one with supernatural powers, according to old belief. The Highlanders of Scotland declare that the soul of the mother passes out of her body into that of the child, so that it will have the gift of "second sight."

Another baby supposed to have the power of seeing into the future is the seventh child of a seventh child; and a child born at the seventh month will either become great or insane!

There are many other superstitions which cluster round the lives of our little ones, and though they now seem to us foolish, it must be remembered that they belong to a time when there was so much that people did not understand that they could hardly avoid making these wild guesses at truth.

All matters pertaining to the kitchen and the subject of cookery in all its branches are dealt with in Every Woman's Encyclopaedia. Everything a woman ought to know is taught in the most practical and expert manner. A few of the subjects are here mentioned:

Ranges

Gas Stoves

Utensils

The Theory of Cooking

The Cook's Time-table

Weights and Measures, etc.

Recipes for

Soups

Entrees

Pastry

Puddings

Salads

Preserves, etc.

Cookery for Invalids Cookery for Children Vegetarian Cookery Preparing Game and Poultry The Art of Making Coffee How to Carve Poultry, Joints, etc.

For the sake of ensuring absolute accuracy, no recipe is printed in this section which has not been actually made up and tried.