364. If your ap.r.o.n string becomes loosened, your true love is thinking of you.
_New York._
365. If your ap.r.o.n drops off, you"ll lose your beau. The same is true if you lose your garter.
_Stevens Point, Wis._
366. If you sink a bottle in water, it will weaken your love.
_Ma.s.sachusetts._
367. Step over the broom, and you will be an old maid.
368. If a girl wet her ap.r.o.n in washing, it is a sign that she will have a drunken husband.
_Labrador, Scilly Cove, N.F., and New England._
369. To hang clothes wrong side out is an antidote for a drunken husband.
_Maine._
370. If a girl finds a cobweb in the door, it is a sign that her beau calls elsewhere.
_Northern Ohio._
371. To find many cobwebs in the kitchen means that there is no courting there.
_Boston, Ma.s.s._
372. When the collar slips around and the opening comes to the ear, your lover is thinking of you.
_Salem, Ma.s.s._
373. If you b.u.t.ton your dress up unevenly, it is a sign that your lover is thinking of you.
_Miramichi, N.B._
374. If you begin to b.u.t.ton your dress unevenly, you will be a widow.
_Central Maine._
375. If you are cross when you are young, you will be an old maid.
_Alabama._
376. If you fall up stairs, you will have a new beau.
_Winn, Me._
377. Tumble up stairs and you"ll not get married within the year. (Hence old maids were formerly said to be careful how they went up stairs.) _New England._
378. Stumbling either up or down stairs means you"ll be married inside a year.
_Cape Breton._
379. If you sit on a table, you will not be married that year.
_New England, New York, and Alabama._
380. Dropping hairpins from your hair means that your beau is thinking of you.
_General in the United States._
381. If a lady dons a gentleman"s hat, it is a sign that she wants a kiss.
382. If your lips itch, it is a sign some one will kiss you.
_Boston, Ma.s.s._
383. If the outside of your nose itches, some one out of town loves you, and if the inside of your nose, then you are loved by some one in town.
_Western Ma.s.sachusetts._
384. If a gentleman and lady are riding and are tipped out, they will be married.
_Nashua, N.H._
385. Make a rhyme when talking, and you"ll see your true love before Sat.u.r.day night.
_Ma.s.sachusetts._
386. Should your shoestring come unloosened,
"T is a sure sign and a true, At that very moment Your true love thinks of you.
_New York._
387. If your shoe comes untied, your sweetheart is talking about you.
_Alabama._
388. If you want to sneeze and can"t, it is a sign some one loves you, and doesn"t dare to tell it.
_Boston, Ma.s.s._
389. If you can"t drink a cup of tea, you must be love-sick.
_Labrador._
390. Stub your toe See your beau.
_Ma.s.sachusetts and Maine._
391. If four persons cross hands in shaking hands on taking leave, one will marry before the year is out.
_Prince Edward Island, Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts, and New York._
392. If hands are crossed at the table while pa.s.sing a dish, a wedding will follow. The top hand belongs to the person who will be married.
_Pennsylvania._
393. To have two teaspoons in a saucer signifies marriage in a year.
394. If a gentleman stayed to dinner and by accident got two knives, two forks, or two spoons, at his plate, he would be married within a year, and there was no help for it.
_Connecticut._
395. Knock over your chair on rising from the table, and you won"t get married that year.
_Peabody, Ma.s.s., New York, and Talladega, Ala._
396. If a girl sew a b.u.t.ton on the clothing of a marriageable man, she will marry him within the year.
_New England._
397. If you have a dress with rings for a figure in it, it is a sign you will be married before it is worn out.
_New York._