GOOD FRIDAY 363 



oath ! " " Doesn't he though ? " said the woman. 

 "What have you ever heard him say?" "Why, 

 he says per -adventure" "Well, there is no harm 

 in that." "Isn't there?" triumphantly retorted the 

 woman. "What does the Psalmist say? If I say 

 'peradventure,' the darkness shall cover me." It 

 was clearly the comma that had done it ! 



The beliefs and customs of the inhabitants the 

 folk-lore, in fact, or such fragments of it as survive 

 are often curious. Good Friday is one of the most 

 important days of the year, from a secular as well 

 as a religious point of view ; the secular, doubtless, 

 owing to the religious. Many of the villagers still 

 make a point of baking a batch of bread on that day, 

 and of setting apart a miniature loaf to be carefully 

 kept, hung up by the fireside, throughout the year. 

 It will prevent the bread of other bakings from 

 turning "vinny" or sour. A few crumbs of it, 

 soaked in milk, are a sovereign specific for most of 

 the ailments to which children's flesh is heir. In 

 like manner, they sow gillyflower seed at precisely 

 12 o'clock on Good Friday, in the belief that the 

 flowers will come up double. Potatoes "set" on 

 that day, irrespective of the question rather an 

 important one, it will be admitted whether Easter 

 be early or late in the year, will have an important 



