the left" would
be added.
_Ohio and Cambridge, Mass._
72. A formula for making a false statement: "As true as I lie here,"
said, as one fools, gives free scope to white lies.
_Roxbury, Mass._
73. An imprecation of children against disloyalty:--
Tell tale tit,
Your tongue shall be slit,
And every dog in our town
It shall have a bit.
_Ohio._
CHALLENGE.
To "stump" another boy to do a thing is considered as putting a certain
obligation on him to perform the action indicated. The phrase is
sometimes used, although the person giving the "stump" may not himself be
able to accomplish the feat.
74. We used to "dare" or "stump" one another to eat green "chuckcherries."
_Brookline, Mass._
75. Daring or "stumping" is or has been common among children generally.
Sometimes it is to jump a certain distance; sometimes to skate out on
thin ice; again, to touch something very hot. Once in Ohio several lads
were collected together about a spring. One of them drew a pail of fresh
water and by chance brought up a small live fish. One of the boys
"stumped" his companions to eat the fish alive, without dressing or
cooking. The boys took the "stump," one quickly cut up the unfortunate
little animal and each boy swallowed a bit. Often the dare is to eat some
very untoothsome morsel.
FORTUNE.
76. Put a mark upon a paper for every bow you get, and when you have one
hundred bury the paper and wish. When the paper is decayed you will find
your wish in its place.
_Cambridge and Bedford, Mass._
77. Children collect two or three hundred names of persons, asking each to
give a bow with the name. This bow is expressed after the name on a sheet
of paper on which the latter is written by this sign [Symbol: H with
slanted cross-bar]. After all are collected the paper is secretly buried
face downward, and then dug up after two or three months, when money is
sometimes found under it.
_North Cambridge, Mass._
78. At Christmas or New Year's children, on first meeting, call out "My
Christmas-gift," or "New Year's-gift," and the one who calls first is to
receive a gift from the other.
_Mansfield, O._
FRIENDSHIP.
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
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