"My family lives in the Adirondacks, a section of New York State that has been favorable to the preservation of folklore. With a common background in England and America for life in a small community, we have kept alive many old tales, songs, sayings, and superstitions, which have always had a sort of fascination for us even though, when quoting some belief, we often qualified it with the remark, 'Of course, I don't believe that sort of thing.'"--from...