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| Death-Watch Beetle - Xestobium rufovillosum - By Sarefo (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
ONE often hears issuing from the rafters and woodwork of old houses sounds resembling the ticking of a watch. These clickings are produced by a small insect known as the " Death-Watch." By nervous persons they are considered omens of death.
Mrs. Hagland, a laundress, living at Tiverton, came to me one morning in great distress of mind, and her simple story will give a better insight into the feelings of the superstitious than any thing I can say. I give verbatim her account of a very unhappy experience
" I be zure zom'thing is gwaine tli 'appen tii me, or mine, for all last night I kep' on hearing of the Death-Watch, aticking, ticking, ticking, ess, he kep' on ticking till he drawved me most mazed. He made me think of my poar bwoy Bill whot's out to zay, 'e tha' bin gone now for tii or dree yer ; I dii zim 'tez a brave while ago I zeed 'n, but there God Almighty 'th tiiked kear aw'n zo var and I 'opes as how He will 'et. I a'n't ahad ide-nor-tide aw'n zince he went away and I dii zim tez a longful time agone that I zeed'n. Well, as I wuz azaying of, I yeard that Death-Watch aclicking all drii the night and dii trubble me dreffel bad. Gi'th me the heart ache and I can't get no rest for thinkind aw'n ; 'tez all day and ivvry day and all night tii. A mawther's heart is a sorrowful thing tii car about, when her only cheel is zo var away, and out tii zay tii. I've a yerd the Death-Watch avore, and then my mawther died perty quick afterwards, but he diddent tickee zo 'ard and zo dismal-like as he did last night. It zimmed to me, as how he zed, 'tick ! tick ! tick ! tick ! wake up, Mawther ! I be drownded ! I be drownded !' Ah ! Lord-a-massy ! if he be a drownded 'twill break my heart. What diiee think mum ?" Poor soul, she went away, crying bitterly. Bill never came back, and now she has gone to her rest, where there will be no more wakeful nights, or dread born of the love-calls of a common insect. Swift ridiculed the foolish fancy of predicting death in this way, but ridicule, be it never so strong, does not kill belief in the supernatural.
A wood-worm
That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
With teeth or with claws it will bite, or will scratch ;
And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch
Because like a watch it always cries click ;
Then woe be to those in the house that be sick,
For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost.
If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post
But a kettle of scalding hot water ejected,
Infallibly cures the timber affected.
The omen is broken, the danger is over ;
The maggot will die, the sick will recover."
With teeth or with claws it will bite, or will scratch ;
And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch
Because like a watch it always cries click ;
Then woe be to those in the house that be sick,
For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost.
If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post
But a kettle of scalding hot water ejected,
Infallibly cures the timber affected.
The omen is broken, the danger is over ;
The maggot will die, the sick will recover."
Hewett 1900
[Later Hewet reiterates that it is unlucky "To hear the melancholy ticking of the " Deathwatch," in woodwork, is an omen of death. " Because like a watch it always cries click, Then woe be to those in the house that be sick."]
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