Then there is the hempseed formula, and one founded on the luck of an apple-pip, which, when seized between the finger and thumb, is supposed to pop in the direction of the lover's abode; an illustration of which we subjoin as still used in Lancashire:
"Pippin, pippin, paradise, Tell me where my true love lies, East, west, north, and south, Pilling Brig, or Cocker Mouth."
The old custom, too, of throwing an apple-peel over the head, marriage or single blessedness being foretold by its remaining whole or breaking, and of the peel so cast forming the initial of the future loved one, finds many adherents. Equally popular, too, was the practice of divining by a thistle blossom. When anxious to ascertain who loved her most, a young woman would take three or four heads of thistles, cut off their points, and assign to each thistle the name of an admirer, laying them under her pillow. On the following morning the thistle which has put forth a fresh sprout will denote the man who loves her most.
There are numerous charms connected with the ash-leaf, and among those employed in the North of England we may quote the following:
"The even ash-leaf in my left hand, The first man I meet shall be my husband; The even ash-leaf in my glove, The first I meet shall be my love; The even ash-leaf in my breast, The first man I meet's whom I love best; The even ash-leaf in my hand, The first I meet shall be my man.
Even ash, even ash, I pluck thee, This night my true love for to see, Neither in his rick nor in his rear, But in the clothes he does every day wear."
And there is the well-known saying current throughout the country:
"If you find an even ash or a four-leaved clover, Rest assured you'll see your true love ere the day is over."
Longfellow alludes to the husking of the maize among the American colonists, an event which was always accompanied by various ceremonies, one of which he thus forcibly describes:
"In the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the corn-field: Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover."
Charms of this kind are common, and vary in different localities, being found extensively on the Continent, where perhaps even greater importance is attached to them than in our own country. Thus, a popular French one--which many of our young people also practise--is for lovers to test the sincerity of their affections by taking a daisy and plucking its leaflets off one by one, saying, "Does he love me?--a little--much--passionately--not at all!" the phrase which falls to the last leaflet forming the answer to the inquiry: