To secure freedom from toothache you should always carry in your pocket one of those mossy balls that are often found growing on wild rose trees. We used to call them "King o' the Roses." I do not know the real name.[1] But if you have toothache, it can be cured by sitting under an ash-tree and cutting your toe-nails.
The forefoot of an unt (or mole) should be carried as a preservative against rheumatism, and a drink of Barrow Well water, on going to bed, is good for a cold.
A Good Friday cake is good for internal troubles. You grate a little into water, and take it so. There is nothing special about the making of this cake, except the date, nor is it cake in the ordinary sense, being merely a lump of dough from the usual baking. The remnants left over are always made into small, flat, cheese-shaped loaves called "batch-cakes," and I fancy the Good Friday cakes are of the same type.
The following charms are used, first, to prevent a wound from festering, the second, to stop the flow of blood. They should be said "over" the injured part:—
Charm for a Thorn.—Our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, pierced with spears, nails, and thorns. Whose wounds never gathered, smarted, nor festered, no more than this thorn. In the name of the Father [etc.]. Amen.
Charm for Blood.—Our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, baptised by John the Baptist in the river of Jordan. Although the waters was wild the waters was good. Christ commanded the waters to stand and the waters stood—so stand this blood. Ribaduck[2] go no more. In the name of God, I stop this blood. Amen.
The Local Customs are some of them very commonplace, such as sitting up with a corpse until it be buried, and opening all the windows of the house where it lies, that the spirit may escape. But instead of telling the bees of a death, they lift the hives as the corpse is raised to go to the churchyard. If this be neglected, they will die. On Cox Hill there is a stone, where burying parties always rest and set down the corpse. Up to this point volunteers may carry the coffin, but thence to the churchyard the proper bearers take up their duty.
St. Thomas' Day is locally known as "Gooding Day," for then
