concludes by referring to their burial and relates

how

"Side by side in the chapel fair,

Are the sainted maidens laid,

With their snowy brow, and glossy hair,
They look not like the dead!

Fifty summers have come and passed away,
But their loveliness knoweth no decay."

Legends of the same kind are found on the Continent. Near Louvain there are three graves in which rest the remains of three pious sisters. Before their graves three clear springs are said to burst forth, which possess marvellous medicinal properties. In order to know whether a woman will live or die of her malady, it is customary to take a hood belonging to her and to lay it on the water. If it sinks no recovery is to be looked for; if, on the other hand, it swims, the disease is curable. Many such stories are current, and the folk-tales, it may be added, of most countries are prolific in a host of

incidents in which the acts of sisters are the principal feature.

A

BRIDES AND THEIR MAIDS

"The bloom or blight of all men's happiness."

BYRON'S Bride of Abydos.

"My son is my son till he gets him a wife,

But my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life."

This may be So, but with few exceptions, the bride thinks differently; for, however great a gap her absence may make in the old home, her feelings are those expressed in the charming ballad of bygone days, which generally found its way into most old books sold at village fairs, and which portrays the folk-lore of the subject, as told by the simple, bright-hearted maiden

"As I walked forth one May morning,
I heard a fair maid sweetly sing,
As she sat under a cow milking,

We will be married o' Sunday.

I said, pretty maiden, sing not so,
For you must tarry seven years or mo',
And then to church you may chance to go
All to be married o' Sunday.

Kind sir, quoth she, you have no skill;
I've tarried two years against my will,
And I've made a promise, will I, or nill,
That I'll be married o' Sunday.

Next Saturday night 'twill be my care
To trim and curl my maiden hair,
And all the people shall say, Look here!
When I come to be married o' Sunday.

Then to the church I shall be led
By sister Nan and brother Ned,

With a garland of flowers upon my head,
For I'm to be married o' Sunday.

And in the church I must kneel down

Before the parson of our good town,
But I will not spoil my kirtle and gown
When I'm married o' Sunday."

There are plenty of old ballads of this kind, many of which have been preserved in chapbooks, and these are interesting in so far as they depict the sentiments of the past. But an Eastern piece of proverbial wisdom represents what must be regarded as an almost universal truism

“The bride that is linked to a worthless groom
Is like a man buried in a worthless tomb ".

on

her whole future happiness being dependent her good or bad choice. Hence it is not sur

prising that, in most ages of the world's history, the position of a bride has been regarded as the most critical in her life; and, on this account, it has been associated with a host of proverbial sayings and superstitious beliefs, numerous survivals of which remain in our midst to-day.

Occasionally, for instance, one may hear the expression, "She brides it"—that is, "She holds up her head haughtily," in reference to a proud woman the allusion, of course, being to the disdainful bride who, on her marriage-day bore herself in a pompous manner, fully conscious of her own charms. On the other hand, there is the well-known saying, "She simpers like a bride on her wedding day," in allusion to the brides of old times who were bound, in courtesy, to smile on all who approached them.

When a bride happens to be unpopular, she is sent off with the following far from complimentary farewell

"Joy go with her and a bottle of moss,

If she never comes back she'll be no great loss,"

the term, "bottle of moss," being applied to a thing of no value.

Whereas, nowadays, it is customary for a young lady to speak of going to church "on her wedding day," formerly she spoke of "visiting the church porch" a practice which explains the meaning of the old Irish proverbial saying, "Ye're early with your orders, as the bride said at the church porch." The popular adage, too, "Blest is the

bride that the sun shines on," had once a practical application, when marriages were celebrated in the church porch. A wet day on such an occasion was a serious matter, as our forefathers had none of the useful contrivances of modern times for preservation from rain.

Another proverbial phrase once in use was to this effect: "You make a muck hill on my trencher, quoth the bride "—that is, "you carve me a great heap." According to Hazlitt, this saying probably originated "in some bride at first, thinking to speak elegantly and finely, using this expression, and so it was taken up in drollery, or else it was only a droll, made to abuse country bride affecting fine language."

It is still often said that " many dressers put the bride's dress out of order," her friends being over anxious to give it the finishing touch. Likewise, the bride herself when once her toilet is complete, must, according to a piece of folk-lore current in the Southern Counties, refrain from taking a last look in the glass, the idea being that the young lady who is too fond of the looking-glass will be unlucky when married; and in removing her robe and chaplet she must take care to throw away every pin worn on the eventful day, as evil fortune will inevitably overtake the bride who keeps even one pin used in the marriage toilet. Hence it is the duty of the bridesmaids to use every precaution that no pin is even accidently left in any part of her dress. Woe, also, to the bridesmaids if they retain any one of them, as their chances of marriage will thereby be materially diminished.