41. If a child cries at birth and lifts up one hand, he is born to command.
42. If the baby smiles in its sleep, it is talking with angels.
43. If a baby yawns, the sign of the cross should be made over it that the evil spirit may not enter. _Niagara Falls, Ont._
44. While tying on a baby's cap repeat,--
Look up there and see a fly, Look down there and see it die.
Its chin will follow the direction indicated, and the tying is hastened. _Brookline, Mass._
45. First a daughter, then a son, The world is well begun. First a son, then a daughter, Trouble follows after. _Maine and Massachusetts._
46. First a son, then a daughter, You've begun just as you oughter. _Brookline, Mass._
47. Rock a cradle empty, Babies will be plenty. _Peabody, Mass._
48. Rock the cradle empty, Have children a plenty, Rock the chair empty, Have sickness a plenty. _Nashua, N.H._
49. To rock the cradle when the baby is not in it will kill it. _New York._
50. If the empty cradle be rocked, the baby will have the colic. _New York and Ohio._
51. The first time a baby is taken visiting, if it is laid on a married couple's bed there will be a baby for that couple. _Salem, Mass._
52. The mother who gives away all the clothes of her dead baby will eventually be comforted by the coming of another child.
53. However many children a woman may have, the last will be of the same gender as the first, and they will look alike. _Maine and Massachusetts._
54. One article of an unborn infant's wardrobe must be left unmade or unbought or the child is liable not to live. _Salem, Mass._
55. A baby's nails must not be cut with scissors before it is a year old; it will make it steal. _North Carolina._
56. To cut a baby's finger-nails deforms it; if the baby is a month old, to do this will cause the child to have fits. _Georgia._
57. To allow a child to look into a mirror before it is a month old will cause it trouble in teething. _Georgia._
58. Tickling a baby causes stuttering. _Georgia._
59. If an infant be measured, it will die before its growing time is over. _Georgia._
60. A child to whom is told any story which he considers remarkable will usually reply by an expression of skepticism, such as: "Really and truly?" "Honestly?" "Earnest, now?" or, "You are fooling." The first speaker answers by some formula or asseveration, as, "Honor bright" (_New England_); "Deed, deed, and double deed" (_Pennsylvania_); "True as I live," or, "Hope I'll die if it isn't so," or simply, "Hope I'll die." _General in the United States._