Favor

( Anna ). Young Anna Favor, married to Ezra Dalton, conceives the insane idea that her baby is a changeling, and asks her husband to rake open the coals that she may lay it upon them, and the witch shall have her own. “She’ll come when she hears it crying, In the shape of an owl or bat, And she’ll bring us our darling Anna In place of her screeching brat.” The delusion is removed and her senses restored in answer to the prayer of her husband. “Now, mount and ride, my goodman, As thou lovest thy own soul! Woe’s me if my wicked fancies Be the death of Goodwife Cole!” J.G. Whittier, The Changeling . W. Bayle Bernard, of Boston, Ma ., has a tragedy on the same subject.