Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1913 — Simple Faith of Bretons. [ARTICLE]

Simple Faith of Bretons.

There is probably no place in France where the peasantry arelnoip inclined to believe in the so-called hidden forces of nature, and where the unscrupulous charlatan has so good an opportunity of deceiving his listeners as in Brittany. Whether in sickness or in health, the people of Brittany look for an answer to their demands in the mysterious kingdom of the supernatural, and with a faith which, to the educated, is sometimes almost unbelievable. A curious instance of this widespread Superstition is cited by M. Paul Geniaux,a wellknown French folklorist. The inhabitants of Muzlllac and district, in the Morblhan, firmly believe that the only effective method of curing their children of the colic is to carry them to a certain chapel, that of St Mamers, and deposit them on the altar. There they mumble a short prayer, the text of which you can never get them to confess —and the cure is immediately effected!