FOLK-LORE AND SUPERSTITIONS IN DORSET. 83 



faith which enabled the Apostolic Church to heal all manner 

 of diseases. 



The old man then thought that his turn was come, and 

 told me " How that his vather zuffered tar'ble from 

 rheumatics," and that he heard of a wonderful cure which some 

 old man in the neighbourhood had. So he sent two of us 

 boys to get the receipt and take it into Yeovil to be made up. 

 We brought it back and put the bottle on the mantelshelf, 

 where it remained for a long time ; and so long as it was 

 there " vather niver had a twing of the rheumatics." But 

 one night we were larkin and at hos' play in the kitchen and 

 knocked the bottle off the shelf and broke it, " and zure 

 enough vather 's rheumatics corned back agin." I am sorry 

 that I could not get the ingredients of this wonderful elixir, 

 the very presence of which scared the microbes away. 



He also told me " That verdigrease from a pump is an 

 excellent cure for the shingles," a highly antiseptic treat- 

 ment ! 



The following incident was related to me in 1910 by a 

 leading auctioneer in the county. He had been suffering 

 from the toothache, and on the way to the dentist he met 

 an old farmer client. " Wer' be you gwain ? " said he. 

 " To the dentist to have a tooth out," said my friend. 

 " Lor'," said the farmer, " dwont 'e goo there. I'll tell 'e 

 how to cure it. Now you goo to a young w'oak tree and put 

 yer y'arms round it, an' mark the place wher' yer vingers 

 mate. Then het a zlit in the bark wi' yer knife, then put 

 yer left han' behin' yer head and pull out zum hair behin' yer 

 right ear and put it in the zlit o' the bark. Yer 'ill niver 

 have the toothache agin." My friend, being of a very equable 

 frame of mind, ultimately lost his tooth and not his hair. 



On Easter Monday, 1910, I was travelling to Abbotsbury, 

 when a quaint old soul got into the carriage, and as she 

 informed me she was on the way to see her daughter, who 

 had presented her with a gran' chil', she was naturally in a 

 very communicative frame of mind. I gathered from her 

 that she was a great believer in the phases of the moon, and 



