Keep The Door Ajar

The popular idea, that the protracted struggle between life and death is painfully prolonged by keeping the door of the apartment shut was received as certain by the superstitious folks of Scotland. But neither was it to he thrown wide open.

To leave the door ajar was the plan adopted by the old women who understood the mysteries of death-beds and wakes. In that case, there was room for the imprisoned spirit to escape; and yet an obstacle. we have been assured, was offered to the entrance of any frightful form which might otherwise intrude itself.

The threshold of a habitation was in some sort a sacred limit, and the subject of much superstition. A bride, even to this day, is always lifted over it, a rule derived apparently from the Romans.

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