weighing babies that is to be found among the poorer classes of France and England; and they also share the belief that if you praise your child's good health, or rejoice by words upon any happy event, ill luck is sure to follow.
In France there is an old saying that if it rains on St. Medard day it will rain for forty days. In England it is St. Swithin who looks after the weather; but in China there is no saint that I know of, so the Chinese content themselves with saying that if it rains on the 27th of the first Chinese month it will rain during forty days.
Much dark and rainy weather is sure to follow a thunderstorm if it takes place before the 27th of the first Chinese month, and a typhoon season is generally predicted if the wind blows from the south on the 11th of the first Chinese month.
On the last day of the old year, rats are said to be running here, there, and everywhere, seeking their mates, and availing themselves of such a good opportunity for eavesdropping. If they hear nothing said about them in a house, well and good; they will not trouble themselves to go to that house again. But if, unfortunately, the word rat is mentioned in their hearing, they will be sure to return in great force on the following year, causing great discomfort to the inhabitants of the house.
If on the Chinese New Year's-day one happens to talk of any sad event—of sickness, sorrow, or any public evil—it will bring ill-luck to oneself and ill-luck to the country. On that day nothing but pleasant subjects must be chosen as topics of conversation.
The Chinese pierce their little boy's ears and make them wear earrings; for if evil spirits happen to see them they will mistake them for girls, and will not take the trouble to carry them away. For the same reason they dress their little male children's hair in two small pigtails, plaited very tightly on both sides of their head, presenting the appearance of two little horns—the fashion generally adopted by little girls.
