Well, a few weeks ago I decided that I'd delayed long enough. I went ahead and purchased Harry M. Hyatt's Folk-Lore From Adams County, Illinois (NY: Alma Egan Hyatt Foundation, 1935).

Now this probably means damned little to anyone else except Nerd and perhaps three other people. But this book, published ten years before I was born, collects 10,949 beliefs, sayings, and things from within ten square miles of Quincy, Illinois -- where I grew up.

I figured that it was time to find out some of the things I believed, especially since I knew an awful lot of people of the generation from which these beliefs were collected.

Yes, I'd heard of a few of these -- and so have you ("Red sky at night," for instance). But I sort of suspect that in others the folks Hyatt talked too were pulling on one or both of his legs.

Here are some of the things in the book, rather randomly chosen, cited by entry number. Make of them what you will.

2861. A tall man has a large penis.
2862. A small man has a large penis.
2863. A large man has a small penis.
4270. A baby will not become sick, if during its first year a mole foot is kept around its neck.
4508. Cure a bee sting by covering it with earwax.
4573. For bad blood, drink burdock root tea.
4711. "...a man was very sick...with peritonitis. His wife...stood behind the horse and caught the fresh droppings in her apron, squeezed out the juice, and gave it to her husband to drink. He got well...." 5006. A little urine in the ear will cure earache.
5018. Put dog waste in a quart of fresh milk and stir and strain through a clothe. Drink this for erysipelas.
5077. If you stop in the road to defecate, you will have a sty.
5621. Turn a somersault to cure indigestion.
5652. Drink whiskey to cure a toothache.
6307. Dreaming of a naked woman means honor and joy.
6308. To dream of being naked is a death warning.
7411. Taking cod-liver oil will make a man passionate.
7466. Dragging a rake across the porch causes bad luck.
8283. Pinch someone for luck when you see a red automobile.
8533. Carry the head of a crow on your breast and all who deal with you will lose in the transactions.
9490. If you wash your front door every morning with your pee, it will draw men to your house.
9491. Take nine drops of your first urine in the morning, put into your husband's coffee, and you will hold him.
10708. It is unlucky for two persons to be in a water-closet together.