Charms

Wrap nine peas in a piece of paper upon which you have written the words "Come in, come in, my dear." Slip this piece of paper under the door mat, and the first unmarried man to enter will be your future husband.

Over the doorway, hang a corncob from which you have shelled all but twenty kernels. You will marry the first man to enter.

Wear a four-leaf clover in the heel of your left shoe, and you will marry the first man you meet.

Place four-leaf clovers beneath the four corners of the bed sheet, and you will dream that night of your future husband.

If you think of a particular man while swallowing a four-leaf clover, you will marry him.

Hang a four-leaf clover over the doorway, and the first man to enter will become your husband.

Before going to bed at night, repeat:

Hoping this night my true, love to see,
I place my shoes in the form of a T.

Arrange your shoes (the heel against an instep), and do not speak again that night. You will marry the man whom you see in your dreams.

At bedtime:

Point your shoes toward the street,
Tie your garters around your feet,
Put your stockings under your head,
And you'll dream of the one you're to wed.

On your birthday, when you go to bed at night, take off your slipper or shoe. Stand with your back to the door, and throw the shoe over your head. You must not look at it again until morning. If the toe points toward the door, you will go out of the room a bride before the year is out.

When you sleep in a strange room or bed for the first time, name the four corners of the room or of the bed for four different beaux. The first corner at which you look in the morning will give you the name of the man you will marry.

Sleep with any of the following things under your pillow, and you will dream of your true love:
a silver spoon
a mirror or looking glass
a little ladder made of sticks
a true-lover's knot of wood shavings
a piece of wedding cake which has been
passed three times through a gold ring
three pebbles which you picked up in a
place you had never visited before

Steal a salt herring from a grocery store, eat it, do not speak after eating, and the first man you dream of will marry you.

Put three raw beans in your mouth, go out of doors, stand in front of someone's window, and listen. The first man's name you hear spoken will be either that of your future husband or of the one having the same name.

When two girls break the wish-bone or "pulley"-bone of a chicken between them, the one getting the shortest piece will marry first, or, as the rhyme goes:

Shortest to marry,
Longest to tarry.

Name each of the four fingers of one hand for a different person of the opposite sex, then press or squeeze them tightly together with the other hand. The one that hurts the worst indicates whom you will marry.

If you can walk around the block with your mouth full of water, you may be married that year.

Peel an apple without making a break in the peel and then, after swinging it three times around your head, throw the whole apple paring over your shoulder onto the floor. The paring will form the initial of your lover's name.

Make a string of beans, and throw it up in the air. The initial made by the beans when they fall will be that of the person you are going to marry.

Count nine stars for nine nights. The first man you see after that will be your husband, if you care for him.

Count sixty white horses and one white mule, and you will marry the first man with whom you shake hands.

Walk seven ties of a railroad, and the first man you kiss you will marry.

Walk across nine cellar doors, and you will marry the first man to whom you speak.