394 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in a narrow place in the chimney, said, l This is a d d tight 

 squeeze! ' With that she fell back and was burned up." 



The value of silence and self-control appears to be the only touch 

 of morality in the witch logic. Manifestations of the black art 

 frequently take place by or over running water. These character- 

 istics are observed in another story from the same maid of the 

 mountain: 



" Two witches were going to rob a store in the night, and they 

 took a young man with them as a partner. They put the greased 

 witch cap on his head so he could go through the keyhole. They all 

 started out, and presently they came to a river. They saw some 

 calves in a field, and caught three of 'em; they mounted the two that 

 were heifers and the boy got on the steer calf. They charged him of 

 all things not to speak on the journey. The witches jumped the river 

 on their calves without makin' a sound, but just as he was jumping 

 across he cried out, ' That was a d d good jump for a steer calf! ' 

 Well, they all went on, and when they got to the store they passed 

 through the keyhole one after another, the young man too. They 

 took all the money they wanted, but when the time came to leave he 

 couldn't get out of the keyhole, because he had spoken, and the 

 spell was broken. He was found in the store the next morning, 

 and had to take all the punishment." 



It is interesting to note as an offset to all these diabolic attributes 

 and potencies that a firm faith exists in a beneficent Power back of 

 them which under given conditions will prevail over evil. " God is 

 always stronger than the devil " is the mountain way of expressing 

 this dependence, and there are charlatans who take advantage of it 

 by going about as " witch masters." One of these died a few years 

 ago, and another farther back, an Irishman named "Mosey," is 

 quoted yet for his successes as " master of all the witches and all the 

 devils." 



When the cows had been eating mushrooms and their milk be- 

 came too bitter to make good butter, Mosey was sent for at once to 

 " cure the witchcraft " and " take off the spell." He took his regu- 

 lar beat through his part of the mountain country once in a while. 

 An old man who oscillates between the " White " and the " Sweet," 

 selling canes, remembers him well. He tells of one woman's experi- 

 ence who " filed a complaint " that her cow wouldn't give much milk, 

 and that the milk wouldn't " gether " for butter. 



" ' Woman,' says Mosey, ' your cow's bewitched, and badly be- 

 witched! ' 



" ' Can you do anything for her, Mosey, and what will you 

 charge? ' 



" ' Yes, I can cure her if you'll pay me five dollars and give me 



