Harvesting the Hedges 
a person by means of spells was to cast ill on one or ill- 
wish them. 
In Fife the expression is to be “ yelder-eyed,” meaning to 
have an unlucky eye ; and it is further said that, if you meet 
such a person on starting on a journey, you will have ill-luck. 
“ Yelder ” means literally “ yellow.” It is curious how yellow 
seems to be deemed an evil colour, witches being said to be 
partial to it. In Wiltshire and Devonshire there is still a 
belief in the evil eye and in ill-wishing. In Italy, I believe 
it is considered unlucky to praise a child’s beauty, lest you 
bring it within the power of the evil eye. I think this same 
belief is to be met with among Arabs and Hindoos. In 
Algeria the peasantry think, if a child is kept dirty, it is 
efficaciously protected against the evil eye. In some parts 
of Southern France and Italy the making of a certain sign 
thus, folding in all the fingers except the thumb, first and 
last fingers, and pointing the hand at a person, is suffi- 
cient to infuriate them, as, although this sign is supposed 
to ward off the evil eye, the person you suspect of being a 
Jettatore must on no account see you make it. Little coral 
hands in this shape are often worn as amulets. In excuse 
for the popular belief that President Carnot had the evil 
eye, it is curious that once, when he went to Fontaine- 
bleau, fire broke out, and when he visited Savoy, a river 
overflowed and did much damage. One of the Popes was 
credited with having the same power, and it is curious it 
was a very good Pope — I think, Pio Nono. It is said that 
a person afflicted with an “ ilk e’e ” need not necessarily 
wish to bring evil on others, and may indeed be a most 
amiable person. 
While the Saxons called October the Wine Month and 
Winter fylleth, from the fall of the leaf, November was 
very appropriately termed the Wind Month, and sometimes 
the Blood Month, or Blot monath, because cattle were 
slaughtered for sacrifice and winter provisions. It used to 
be called killing time in America. 
November . — The equinoctial gales have begun. They say 
those at sea are to be pitied, but sometimes I think those pn 
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