Backwoods Sparkin'

FATE NEWSOME’S least gal, Cally Jane, is a-pitchin’ her gab to that new fellow down at the store, and to begin her courtship she has tried more love magic than was known in the old days when love philtres were standard articles of merchandise.

Cally Jane, being wise in the elements of crude propaganda, will see to it that the Ozark grapevine telegraph carries rumors that the new fellow is ‘sparkin” her, she wall meet him at the spring where the young folks gather to flirt after church services, and she will select him as her partner in the kissing games at the play parties. But since the life of a young girl in the southern Missouri and northern Arkansas hills is less crammed with social activities than that of her city cousins, Cally Jane will spend a lot of time with age-old superstitions determining her true love. The mumbo jumbo she goes through daily would make voodoo worship seem like a lecture on logic.

Every well-brought-up young maiden in the Ozarks can reel off a dozen ways of determining the identity and description of her future husband. She does n’t do it jokingly, either. She knows that if the cat jumps into her lap at a quilting party she will be the next bride; and if she hangs the short piece of the turkey wishbone over a door and a man walks through it he is going to be her husband, and she has to wait patiently until the gods reveal it to him — with some assistance on her part, as befits a daughter of the pioneers.

Meanwhile she will help things along by making wishes a dozen times a day and going through different routines so that she will be assured of seeing her beau soon. Just to make doubly sure that nothing will mar her happiness she will carry around with her a buckeye for luck, and several small white ‘pearls’ taken from the heads of soft-shelled crayfish; she will string ‘lucky rocks’ on a wire and hang them over her door, and she will collect a charm string by snipping buttons from the garments of fellow guests at parties. Lucky stones are small rocks with holes in them, and ‘crawdad pearls ’ are sure to bring luck. If all else fails she can wear a rabbit’s foot in her garter.

If the hem of her dress turns up she kisses it, confident that she will see her beau before night. If she sees a cardinal she says, ‘See a redbird before it lights, see your beau before to-night.’ She can also make a wish when she sees a cardinal flying.

When an Ozarkian girl sees a load of hay she makes a wish and shuts her eyes or turns her head until it passes from sight. She makes a wish too when she sees the new moon over her left shoulder. When she sees a white horse she moistens the index finger of her right hand, touches her left palm, and then strikes her palm with her right fist. When she sees the first shir at night she says;

When she lights the fire she names it, and if it burns from one match without smoking she knows that the gentleman is true to her. Then she holds the match up and watches the direction toward which the blackened stem leans. It points to the home of her true love.

If an Ozarkian girl says the same thing at the same time someone else does she holds out her little finger to be crooked with the little finger of the other person. Then she solemnly says, ‘Finger,’ and the other person says, ‘Thumb.’ They place their thumbs together and recite together, ‘When a man marries his trouble begins.’ If they do not laugh or say anything else, the wishes they make will come true.

It’s easy for the mountain maid to learn the color of her husband’s hair. When she hears a mourning dove she looks under her left foot. A liair of the same color is supposed to be there. Or when she sees the moon she chants: —

If she wants to see his face more clearly she either swallows a thimbleful of salt before retiring or eats a heavily salted egg. Then she walks backward to bed. She is supposed to dream of a man bringing her a drink of water, and the face of the man will be that of her future husband.

If she is more daring she writes the names of six boys on separate slips of paper and puts them under her pillow. In the night she throws out one; it will bear the name of her husband. Or she can have a friend name the corners of the room; the one she glances at first in the morning will bear the name of her husband.

Two girls sleeping together fasten their big toes with a light string. In the night the string breaks. The one with the short piece wall be married first. At quilting parties a cat is thrown on the newly finished quilt, bounced around, and allowed to jump out. It will jump into the lap of the next bride.

A great deal of scheming is used for the ‘first men’ superstitions. The Ozarkian girl puts a four-leaf clover in her left shoe and goes walking. The first man she meets will be her husband. She usually contrives to meet her favorite swain and to allow him to know the circumstances. The feet are important in Ozarkian courtship. No girl allows a woman to sweep under her feet; she gets up and moves. If the broom passes under her feet she will be an old maid. If she stumps her toe she wall see her beau.

The climax to this orgy of superstition is the dumb supper. The hill maiden does not know why the dumb supper is supposed to be so powerful, but there are many who declare that it ‘works.’ Usually two girls go together to cook the evening meal in silence, beginning with the dessert. Sometimes they wear their clothing backward. At dusk they sit down to an unilluminated table and eat the meal backward. They must not talk or laugh either during the preparation or during the meal. While they are eating, their future husbands are supposed to arrive. If no one comes they are doomed to be old maids. But, since the girls usually are careful to send an indirect invitation to the boys of their choice, the supper frequently is a success. For all her superstition, the backwoods maiden combines some modern methods with old customs in backwoods sparking.