PROJECTS.

Love divinations or love charms, I have found, are popularly known as “projects” in parts of New England and on Mt. Desert. On Prince Edward Island and in various parts of the Canadian provinces the practice of such divinations is usually spoken of as “trying tricks.” If a number of young people are together, one will say, “Let’s try tricks.” In the Middle and Western United States the usual colloquial expression for these love divinations is “trying fortunes.” One girl will say to another at some appropriate time, “Let’s try our fortunes.”

APPLES.

164. Eat an apple at midnight before the glass, saying,—

holding the lamp in the hand. The true love will appear.

Winn, Me.

165. Throw a whole apple-paring on the floor, after swinging it three times around your head. It will form your true love’s initial letter.

General in the United States.

APPLE-SEEDS.

166. When eating an apple, snap it with the fingers and name it for a person of the opposite sex. Count the fully developed seeds (all of the others are kisses), and the last one must correspond to the following formula:—

Some change the latter lines of this formula into

167. Similar rhymes commonly repeated in northern Ohio, after naming an apple and counting the seeds, are,—

168. Lay in the hand four apple-seeds and have some one name them, then pick them up, saying,—

169. A love divination by way of apple-seeds, much practiced when a number of young people were spending the evening together, or perhaps by grown-up boys and girls in district schools as they ate their noon-day lunch about the stove, was as follows:—

Two seeds were named, one for a girl and one for a young man, and placed on a hot stove or in front of an open fire. The augury, concerning the future relations of the young people was derived from the behavior of the two seeds. If as they heated they jumped away from one another, the two persons would become estranged or their friendship die; if the seeds moved nearer together, marriage was implied; if the one named for the girl moved towards the other, it signified that the young woman was fonder of the young man than he was of her, and so on.

Northern Ohio.

170. “A common project in my girlhood was to place an apple-seed on each of the four fingers of the right hand, that is, on the knuckles, first moistening them with spittle. A companion then ‘named’ them, and the fingers were worked so as to move slightly. The seed that stayed on the longest indicated the name of your future husband.”

Stratham, N.H.

171. Name apple-seeds and place on the lids of the closed eyes. Wink and the first to fall off shows the name of your future husband.

Winn, Me., New York, and Pennsylvania.

172. To name apple-seeds, put one on each temple, get some one to name them, and the one that sticks the longest will be the true one.

173. Name apple pips, put them on the grate, saying,—

BABIES.

174. Kiss the baby when nine days old, and the first gentleman you kiss afterward will be your future husband.

New England.

BED.

175. Go upstairs backward, into a chamber backward, and into bed backward. Drink some salt and water, and if you dream of some one bringing you drink it will be your future husband.

Maine and Salem, Mass.

176. The first time two girls sleep together let them tie two of their big toes together with woollen yarn, and the one with the shortest piece of broken string left attached in the morning will be married first.

Northern Ohio.

177. If two girls on sleeping together for the first time tie their waists together with string or thread, and the thread gets broken in the night, the first man who puts his arm round the waist of either will have the first name of the man whom that girl will marry, whether that man is the one or not.

Province of Quebec.

178. After getting ready for bed in silence, take a ball of string and wind about the wrist, repeating,—

179. Name the bed-posts for four different men. The one you dream about you will marry.

General.

180. The first time you sleep in a room name the corners each with a different (man’s) name. The first corner you face on waking indicates whom you will marry. (New England.) The same thing is done with the bed-posts in Ohio.

181. Put four names of boys on four slips of paper and take one blank slip. Intermingle them, and then without looking at them put one under each leg of the bed and one under the pillow. The name of the last will be that of your future husband.

Franklin, Mass.

182. Rub the four bed-posts with a lemon and carry the lemon in the pocket the next day, and the first man you speak to you will marry.

New Hampshire.

BIBLE.

183. Read the third verse of the third chapter of Hosea, Joel, and Amos for three Sundays in succession, and the first gentleman you walk with you will marry.

Nashua, N.H.

184. Put the end of a key in the Bible, on the verse of Solomon’s Song reading, “I am my beloved’s and he is mine;” close the book and bind it round with string or garter, each girl supporting the key with the first finger of the right hand. One of them repeats a verse to each letter as the other girl names it, beginning the alphabet, till it turns at the initial of the future husband or lover.

General in the United States.

BIRDS.

185. When you see a turkey-buzzard flying alone, repeat,—

Note the manner of the bird’s flight: if he flaps his wings your lover is true; if not, the lover is false.

Tennessee.

186. When the call of the first turtle-dove is heard, sit down and remove the shoe and stocking from the left foot, turn the stocking inside out, in the heel of which if a hair is found, it will be of the color of the hair of the future husband or wife.

Tennessee.

In Mt. Desert, Maine, and Prince Edward Island the same project is tried on hearing the first robin.

BUTTONS.187. The coming husband is determined by repeating the following words, touching each button of the coat, vest, or dress in order:—

188. With reference to the habitation to be occupied:—

Big house, little house, pig-sty, barn.

New Hampshire.

189. As to the wedding dress:—

Silk, satin, velvet, cotton, woolen.

Massachusetts.

190. In regard to the vehicle:—

Carriage, wagon, wheelbarrow, chaise.

Massachusetts.

191. The first of these button formulÆ is used by boys to foretell their profession in life. A friend remembers how in childhood his buttons were completely worn out by the continual practice of the inquiry.

192. With reference to the acquisition of a coat:—

Bought, given, stolen.

Massachusetts.

193. “Rich man, poor man, beggar, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” Said over by little girls on their back hair combs to find the occupation of their future husbands.

New York.

FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER.

194. If a girl puts a two-leaved clover in her shoe, the first man who comes on the side where the clover is will be her future husband.

Michigan.

195. Put a four-leaved clover in your shoe, and you will marry a man having the first name of the man whom you meet first after doing it.

Province of Quebec.

196. With a four-leaved clover in your shoe, you will meet your lover.

Michigan.

197. If the finder of a four-leaved clover put it in her own shoe, she will marry the first person with whom she crosses a bridge.

Michigan.

198. Put a four-leaved clover over the door. The first person to pass beneath will be your future mate.

Newport, R.I., and Michigan.

COUNTING.

199. Count sixty white horses and one white mule, then you will marry the first man with whom you shake hands.

Chestertown, Md.

200. Count a hundred white horses and two white mules, and the first person you shake hands with you’ll marry.

Pennsylvania.

201. Count a hundred white horses during leap year. The first man that shakes hands with you after you have your hundred will be your future husband.

Bedford, Mass.

202. Count one hundred gray horses (one mule stands for ten horses), and the first gentleman with whom you shake hands is your intended.

Alabama.

203. After meeting ninety-nine white horses and a brown one for the hundredth, the first person with whom you shake hands will be your future mate.

Newport, R.I.

204. Count five hundred colored people, and the next gentleman you meet you will marry.

Cambridge, Mass.

205. Count ninety-nine negroes and one white horse, and the first boy you answer “yes” or “no” to you will marry.

South Boston, Mass.

206. Count forty white horses, the first man you meet afterwards you’ll marry.

Champaign, Ill.

207. In crossing a bridge, if one sees two white horses on it (in different teams) and wishes at once for a man to marry her, she’ll get him.

Peabody, Mass.

208. Count a hundred “tips” (a bow with the lifting of the hat). The hundredth will be your future husband.

Eastern Massachusetts.

209. Count the buttons of an old boot. The number of buttons indicates the number of years before marriage.

Massachusetts.

210. If you count the boards of the ceiling (loft) in a strange room before going to sleep, you will dream of your lover.

Newfoundland.

DAISY PETALS.211. Pull off the “petals” of a daisy one by one, naming a boy (or a girl as the case may be) at each one, thus, “Jenny, Fanny, Jenny, Fanny,” etc. The one named with the last petal is your sweetheart. The seeds which remain on the back of your hand after taking them up show the number of your children.

212. Common at the present time is the formula:—

213. To tell the fortune, take an “ox-eye daisy,” and pluck the “petals” one by one, using the same words as have been given above for buttons.

General in the United States.

In Ohio and other Western States where the ox-eye daisy is not common, children use instead the bloom of the despised dog-fennel.

214. Fortunes are told by pulling off leaflets of a compound leaf, such as the locust, repeating, “Rich man, poor man,” etc.

Central Illinois.

215. Name a daisy, and then pull off the petals (ray-flowers) one by one, saying “yes, no,” and if “yes” falls on the last, the person loves you, and vice versa.

Alabama.

216. A formula for daisy petals:—

217. If you find a five-leaf daisy (that is, one with five ray-flowers) and swallow it without chewing, you will in the course of the day shake hands with your intended.

Alabama.

218. Another:—

219. Another:—

Girls repeat the last three lines only of the above rhyme.

Prince Edward Island.

DOORWAY.

220. Put the breast-bone of a fowl over the front door, and the first one of the opposite sex that enters is to be your future companion.

Alabama.

221. Hang over the door a corn-cob from which you have shelled all but twenty grains. The first man that enters you’ll marry.

Arlington, Mass.

222. Nail a horseshoe over the door, and the first one who enters is your true love.

Massachusetts.

223. Hang a wishbone over the door. The first one who enters will be your lover.

Somewhat general.

224. Two girls break a wishbone together. The one who gets the longest bit will remain longest unmarried, or, as the familiar rhyme runs,—

If the “knot” (that is, the flattened portion at the junction of the two prongs of the bone) flies away and does not stick to either prong, the two girls are to remain unmarried. Each girl puts her bit of the wishbone over a different door. The first man who enters either door is to marry the girl who has placed her bit of wishbone over the door.

Prince Edward Island.

EGGS.

225. Take an egg to your window; break it over a knife; remember the day and date. Wish that your true love would come to you. If you go too high, he will be killed.

Nashua, N.H.

226. Put two eggs in front of the open fire on a very windy day, and soon two men will come in with a coffin. The man at the foot will be your future husband.

Chestertown, Md. (negro).

227. One or more girls put eggs to roast before an open fire, seating themselves in chairs before it. Each puts one egg to roast, and when her egg begins to sweat (it will sweat blood), she is to rise and turn it. At this time the one whom that projector is to marry will come in through a door or window (all of which must be left open throughout) and take her vacant chair. If she is to die before she marries, two black dogs will enter, bearing a coffin, which they will deposit on her chair.

Quaker Neck, Kent Co., Md.

228. Boil an egg hard, take out the yolk, and fill its place with salt. Eat it before going to bed. The one you dream of as bringing you water is your future husband.

Mansfield, O.

To be done by two girls in silence, going backward as they retire.

FINGERS.

229. Name each of the four fingers of one hand for some person of the opposite sex, then press them tightly together with the other hand; the one that hurts the worst indicates whom you will marry.

Prince Edward Island.

GARMENTS.

230. Scatter your clothes in the four corners of the room, naming them. The man you are to marry will bring you your clothes in a dream.

Maine.

231. The first time you sleep in a room, name the corners each a different (man’s) name. The first corner you face on waking indicates whom you will marry.

The same thing is done with bed-posts in Ohio.

232. On your birthday, as you retire at night, take off your slipper or boot. Stand with your back to the door and throw it over your head. If the toe points to the door, you go out of the chamber a bride before the year is out. You must not look at the boot until the morning.

Bedford, Mass.

233. At night before going to bed take one of your garters and tie it in a knot and hang it on the bed-post above your head. While tying repeat,—

234. Young girls on going to bed at night place their shoes at right angles to one another, in the form of the letter T, repeating this rhyme:—

235. The first time you sleep in a house, upon retiring place the shoes in the form of a T, and say over,—

236. Catch the four corners of a handkerchief up in the hand, then let some one wishing to try her fortune draw two. If she gets two corners on the same side, she will not be married. If she gets opposite ones, she will be married.

Prince Edward Island and Chestertown, Md.

237. A rhyme on stockings and shoes:—

238. Put the chemise, inside out, on the foot of the bed and under it a board with ashes upon it; then go to bed backwards, saying,—

239. Place the heel of one shoe against the instep of the other for three nights in a row. You will dream of your future husband.

Franklin, Mass.

240. On Friday night after getting all ready for bed, roll your petticoat up, and before lying down put it under your pillow, repeating this verse:—

LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET.

241. Write names on three pieces of paper, throw them up in the air (in the dark); feel for one, put it under the pillow, and in the morning look at it to see the name of the man you are to marry.

Salem, Mass.

242. Put pieces of paper, each bearing one letter of the alphabet, in water face down, and then place them under the bed. Those turned up in the morning are the initials of your future husband.

Prince Edward Island and Northern Ohio.

243. Write the names of several men friends, each on a slip of paper. On three successive mornings choice is made from these. If the name drawn is always the same, it is the name of your future husband. If the lot falls differently every morning, you will never be married.

244. Write two names (of possible lovers), cross out the common letters. Touch the uncrossed letters, repeating in turn, “Love, friendship, hate,” and the last uncrossed letter will indicate the state of the heart.

Prince Edward Island, St. John, N.B., and Northern Ohio.

MIDNIGHT.245. Go out at midnight and walk around a peach-tree, repeating,—

246. Eat an apple at midnight before the glass, saying, “Whoever my true love may be, come and eat this apple with me,” while holding a lamp in the hand. Your true love will appear.

Winn, Me.

247. Set the table in silence for two at eleven o’clock P.M., with bread and butter and silver knives and forks. Two girls sit down at twelve, and say, “Whoever my true love may be, come and eat this supper with me.”

Winn, Me.

PLANTS.

248. Take beans in the hand, go out of doors and throw them against the window. The first man’s name that you hear spoken is the name of the man you will marry.

Connecticut.

249. Put three raw beans in your mouth, go out of doors, stand in front of some one’s window and listen. The first man’s name you hear spoken will be either that of your future husband or of the one having the same name.

Salem, Mass.

250. If a piece of brush or brier sticks to the dress, name it. If it drops, the lover is false; if it sticks, he is true.

Northern Ohio.

251. Blow seeds from the dandelion until none remain, counting each puff as a letter of the alphabet; the letter which ends the blowing is the initial of the name of the person the blower marries.

252. Rub your hands in sweet fern. The first one you shake hands with afterward is your true love.

Prince Edward Island.

253. Wear a piece of fern in the toe of your shoe, and the first person you meet you will marry.

New Hampshire.

254. Take a live-forever leaf, squeeze it to loosen the inner and outer skin. If it makes a balloon as you blow into it, you will be married and live a long time. If it does not, you will be an old maid.

St. John, N.B.

255. Stick a piece of live-forever up on the wall, and in whatever direction it leans, the lover will come from that quarter.

Miramichi, N.B.

256. Take two shoots of live-forever and pin them together on the wall. If they grow towards each other, the couple will marry; if away, they will become estranged.

Nantucket, Mass., and Western Massachusetts.

257. Break off a piece of dodder or “lovevine,” twirl it round the head three times and drop it on a bush behind you. If it grows, the lover is true; if not, he is false.

Tennessee.

258. Twist a mullein-stalk nearly off after naming it. If it lives, he or she loves you; if not, not.

Newton, Mass., and Tennessee.

259. After proceeding as above, count the number of new shoots that spring up (if any). The number shows how many children will result from the marriage.

Greene Co., Mo.

260. Put a pea-pod with nine peas over the door. The first one who comes under it you will marry.

New England.

261. Pluck three thistles in bloom, cut off the purple part and put the remainder of the flower in water over night, after naming. The one that blooms out over night you will marry.

St. John, N.B., and Northern Ohio.

262. Saturday night walk round a tall white yarrow three times, saying,—

Then pluck the head, put it inside the dress, and sleep with it. The first person you meet with, to speak to, at church will be your husband.

Deerfield, Mass.

RING.

263. Suspend a ring by a hair from the finger. Let it swing over a tumbler. The number of strokes against the side of the tumbler indicates the number of years of age of the future husband.

Prince Edward Island.

264. Hang a gold ring over a glass of water, from a hair, saying the name of some man. If the ring strikes the side of the glass three times you will marry him.

Willimantic, Conn.

265. Put three saucers on the table, and walk round it blindfolded three times, then put a finger in a saucer. One saucer contains a gold ring, one soapsuds, one is empty. Repeat twice (making nine in all). If one touches the ring, she will marry an unmarried man; if the suds, she will marry a widower; if the empty one, she will be an old maid. The one touched two out of three times is the fate.

Central Maine.

266. If a piece of wedding-cake is passed through a ring and put in the left stocking, then placed under the pillow and slept on three nights running, you will dream of your lover, or he or she will come to you.

New England.

STARS.

267. If you look at a bright star intently before retiring, you will dream of your sweetheart.

Alabama.

268. Count nine stars for nine successive nights. (If a rainy or cloudy night intervene, the charm is broken, and the project must be begun again.) The person you dream of on the ninth night will be your future partner in life.

Prince Edward Island.

269. Count nine stars for nine consecutive nights, and the person you dream of the last night is your intended.

Prince Edward Island and Alabama.

270. Count nine stars for nine nights in succession, and the first young gentleman with whom you shake hands is to be your future husband.

Eastern Massachusetts.

271. For three successive nights look out of the window and name three stars. Walk to bed backward and without speaking. The one you dream of two nights out of three will be your husband.

Central Maine.

272. Have some one call a star which you have picked out, by the name of a young man. The next time you meet this man, if his face is toward you, he loves you; if his side, he likes you; if his back, he hates you.

Province of Quebec and Bedford, Mass.

TEA-LEAVES.

273. After drinking tea, turn the cup upside down, whirl it round three times, set it down in the saucer, whirl again, take it up, turn right side up, and look at the grounds. If all are settled in the bottom of the cup, you will be married right off. If they stay on the side, the number of grounds will be the number of years before marriage. The fine dust in the bottom means trouble, a wish, a letter, or a journey.

Somewhat general in the United States.

274. Take a “beau” (a little stem) from the tea and put it in your shoe. The first man you meet you will marry.

St. John, N.B.

275. Sticks of tea in the teacup denote beaux. Name them, and bite them, and the hardest loves you best.

Massachusetts.

WALKING ABROAD.

276. Go to walk and turn back. The first man you meet you’ll marry.

Massachusetts.

277. If you walk the length of seven rails of a railroad track, the first man that speaks to you after you get off will be your future husband.

Bedford, Mass.

278. Take a looking-glass and walk backwards to the wall, and you will see your future husband’s picture.

Nashua, N.H.

279. If you walk with a gentleman (for the first time), and have on new shoes and go over a bridge, you will marry him.

Eastern Massachusetts.

280. If a young woman walking into a strange place picks up three pebbles and puts them under her pillow, she will marry the young man she dreams of.

Carbonear, N.F.

281. Run three times around the house, and on the third round a vision of your husband will rise before you.

Alabama.

WATER.

282. Float two cambric needles on water and name them. If they float together, they’ll marry. If they float apart, they won’t marry.

Petit Codiac, N.B.

283. Girls prepare basins of dirty and of clean water. If a blindfolded girl puts a stick, with which she reaches about, into the dirty water, she will marry a widower. If into clean water, she will marry a young man.

Labrador.

284. Place three basins on the floor, one containing dirty water, another clear water, and the third empty. Let the (blindfolded?) person crawl up to them on her hands and knees. The one she touches will foretell her fate. The clear water means she is to marry a rich man, the dirty water, a poor man, and the empty basin no man at all.

285. Make ready a mirror, a lamp, a basin of water, a towel and soap. Go to bed backward, not speaking afterwards, and lie awake till midnight. If your sweetheart comes and washes, combs his hair, and looks at you, you’ll be married. If you don’t see him, you’ll see your coffin. (Both sexes.)

Labrador.

286. When a pot is boiling over, put a small stick in one of the ears and name it for the one you like best. If he loves you in return, the water will cease to boil over; if not, it will continue.

Double Creek, Md.

287. Let two girls wash and wipe the dishes together, then put a dish of water behind the door with a broom-handle in it. Two men will come in who will be the husbands of the two projectors.

Deer Isle, Me.

288. Run molten lead into hot water; the shape of the pellets formed shows the occupation of your future sweetheart.

Labrador.

289. Pour molten lead on a hearth; the shape the metal assumes in cooling foretells the occupation of one’s future husband.

General in the United States.

VARIOUS.

290. On accidentally making two lines rhyme, kiss your hand, and you will be so fortunate as to see your lover before nine that night.

Alabama.

291. Put a looking-glass under the pillow, and you will dream of your lover.

Green Harbor, N.F.

292. Tie a true lover’s knot (of shavings) and place it under the pillow. You will dream of your lover, even if at that time he is unknown to you.

Newfoundland.

293. Steal a salt herring from a grocery store, eat it, don’t speak after eating, and the first man you dream of will marry you.

294. Make a little ladder of sticks, place it under the head at night, and you’ll dream of your future husband.

Patten, Me.

295. Swallow a chicken’s heart whole, and the first man you kiss afterwards will be your future husband.

Winn, Me.

296. Take three grains of coffee, put one notch on one, two on another, put them in a glass of water under your bed, and name them. The one that sprouts is the one you are going to marry.

Alabama.

297. Light a match, and the way the flame goes shows where your future husband lives.

Bedford, Mass.

298. Stand two matches on a hot stove, sulphur end down, and name them for yourself and a marriageable acquaintance of the opposite sex. If both stand or fall together, it is a sign that you will live and die together. If one fall, it is a sign that one will leave the other.

Cape Breton.

299. Go out in spring and turn up a brick on the ground, and look under it at the clay. The color of the clay denotes the color of the hair of your future husband.

Chestertown, Md.

300. Cut your finger-nails nine Sundays in succession, and your sweetheart will dine with you.

Alabama.

301. Throw a ball of yarn into an unoccupied house, and holding the end of the yarn, wind, saying, “I wind and who holds?” The one who is to be your future wife or husband will be seen in the house.

Ohio.

302. Take a hair from your head. Have some one else take one from his, cross them, and rub them over each other, and the last thing you say before one breaks will be the first thing said after you are married.

Cambridge, Mass.

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