162 ST. JOHN'S-WORT FLOWERS 



asked her if they were true, she said, ' no.' One 

 day, I remember it was the twenty-third of June, 

 St. John's-wort eve, Fraulein was very busy. She 

 ran out to the pasture and gathered some St. 

 John's-wort, and this she sewed in a httle bag and 

 hung it around her neck. She put another sprig 

 of St. John's-wort over the kitchen door and still 

 another over the door to her room. Then after 

 dusk she went again to the pasture and bathed 

 her eyes with the dew that had fallen on the 

 plant. 



" I was very curious to know why she did all 

 this ; but the only thing she told me then was that 

 she had bathed her eyes with St. John's-wort dew 

 to keep her sight from growing dim. Her eyes 

 were very sharp, I knew, and it did seem strange 

 that she could keep them so by just one night in 

 the year putting the dew on them that fell on a 

 St. John's-wort plant. But Fraulein thought this 

 was true, and I suppose Herr Wilhelm Fritz 

 would tell you the same story, for it is believed by 

 many young girls and men in Germany. 



" That same evening Fraulein talked very little. 

 It was not until the next day that she told me all 

 that happened. 



" Before Uncle Hiram made the west road 

 through his place there was a naiTow path there 

 called Witches' Lane, and many people thought 

 a witch lived in an old house close by. It has since 

 been torn down. Fraulein had heard about this 



