has been sewing puts her thimble on the table as
she sits down to eat, it is a sign that she will be left a widow if she
marries.
_Central Maine._

1224. If one sings at a table while the family are eating, it means the
death of a friend.
_Webster City, Iowa._

Or bad luck (_Virginia_); disappointment (_New Jersey_).

1225. If three drops of blood fall from your nose, one of your family is
dead.
_Labrador._

1226. If you sneeze on Sunday morning before breakfast, you will hear of
the death of some person you know before the next Saturday night.
_Northern Vermont._

1227. If you sneeze at table with the mouth full, an acquaintance will
die soon.
_Virginia and Alabama._

1228. When sowing grain, if a strip of land is missed there will be a
death inside of a year.
_Ohio and Maryland._

1229. When you shiver, it means that some one is walking over the place
where your grave is to be.
_General in the United States._

1230. If sparks are left (unintentionally) in the ashes over night, it is
a sign of death.
_Cumberland, Md._

1231. If sparks of fire fly out of an opened stove door, it is a sign of
death.
_Trinity Bay, N.F._

1232. If any one in the town lies dead over Sunday, there will be another
death before the end of the week.
_Bedford, Mass._

1233. Three horses of the same color indicate death, but this sign is not
very noticeable in a thickly settled community.
_Baldwinsville, N.Y._

1234. Three chairs placed accidentally in a row mean death.
_Ohio._

1235. If there is a death there will be three deaths in the family within
a short time.
_New York._

1236. To break the spell of thirteen at table, all should rise together,
otherwise the first up (or, as some say, the last down) dies inside a
twelvemonth.
_New England._

1237. If thirteen sit at table, the one who rises first will not live
through the year.
_Somerville, Mass., Newark, N.Y., and Mifflintown, Pa._

1238. If thirteen sit at table, the last one who sits down will not die
that year.
_Brookline, Mass._

1239. If window-shades fall down without being molested, it is a sign of
death.
_Cape Breton._

CHAPTER XVIII.

MORTUARY CUSTOMS.

1240. If "salt water pigeons'" feathers are in a bed, the sick person on
it will not die easily.
_Newfound