Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-01-24
Georgia, Dec. 6, 1886.
POPULAR SUPERSTITIoNS.

! still less, who are not IN some degree, under
the influence of supersttious fears. There
is almost universal apprehension OF some
thing supernatural. Those who laugh the
loudes, at ghosts, and hobgoblins, will still
quicken their pace, as they hear some unu'
sual sound when passing the graveyard at
the gloomy hour of midnight. The calm
and intellectual philosopher, whose reason
spurns all imaginary c.ils, is ,cempelled at
times to be ashamed of himself, as he Ends
that Imagination has the mastery over judg-
ment. The reason Of the universal preva-
lence of those feelings is to be found in a
great degree, in the impressions we receive
in childhood. The tales of the nursery
awaken belief, which the future judgment
may pronounce to be foolish, but the infu-
ence OF which, in greater or less degree,
is felt through life. There is undoubtedly
much in the peculiarly of our present con-
dition, to give the mind a strong tendency
comprehend supernatural events. The mys.
terious union Of soul to body; the awful
phenomenon Of death-the departure Of
friends we love, from present scenes, and
their entrance upon condition we know
not what, and into worlds we know not
where-the certain knowledge of spiritual
existence unseen and unheard, all prepare
the mind TO BE- easily excited by occur
rences, apparently conflicting with acknow-
ledged laws. But it is generally in child
hood that We receive those impressions,
which future years are unable to erase.
And lest any, from the selection OF the
subject should anticipate mirth making
performance, we forewam our readers that
it will not be our endeavor to amuse with
witty speculations, but to interest with facts.
1t is fact, humiliating though it be,
that there is hardly an individual in any
land who does not at times experience
momentary Inconvenience from such feel.
ings. And there arc great multitudes who
have an undoubting confidence in the re.
alily of ghostly interference in mortal con-
Germs.
Those who are not habituated 10 rcflec-
ton, often retain undiminished till dying
hour, belief in those signs and omens
which they were taught in childhood
They do not question the truth Of those
ideas, which have been instilled into the
mind in earliest infancy, and which have
been the motives to which parents have
first appealed, in imbecile efforts to govern.
How often is child told that unless he
ceases crying, he shall be shut up in dark
closet, where the ghosts will come and get
him. And what an impression must such
a threat produce upon the plant mind.
With the unreflecting, superstition is con.
sequently strong. Their minds are not
sufficiently cultivated to throw off the load
which has been imposed upon them. The
better informed, who are accustomed to
examine their feelings, and inquire into the
grounds Of their belief, emancipate their
judgments from these unreal fears, but are
generally through life in some degree un-
der the control of the strong predjudices,
which were early inculcated. The belief
in supernatural appearances is SO general,
and is productive of such evil conse-
quences, that the subject deserves soser
treatise.
I. We shall first allude to those appear
ances which are unusual, and which to the
uninformed seem supernatural, but which
are capable of explanation from the known
principles of philosophy or natural science.
The fire balls, usually known by the name
of Jack with the Lantern or Will o the
Wisp,' so often seen dancing over the
marsh, produce great terror and often Sc
rious injury. Now here there is no de.
lusion. A person actually sees light
where there is no human being who bears
it, and not being acquainted with the cheml-
cal principles ofinfammable gases, & spon.
taneous combustion, he naturally concludes,
that it must be some apparition sent as a
warning to himself or the village. Per-
haps in a few days some accident occurs.
or some neighbor dies, and he feels with
out doubt, that this luminous meteor was
sent as monition. AS it passes from
house to house, it is receiving constant &C.
cessions, and grows more marvellous and
more appalling, till every child is afraid 10
venture out of doors, after nightfall. The
man who is conversant with natural science,
beholds in this appearance no cause of
fear, but an interesting natural phenome-
non. An inaammable gas oozes from the
ground, and is set on fire by spontaneous
combustion. A person who is acquainted
with gases, can take tumbler and 90 to
the marsh and fill it with this gas, and re.
turning to his house burn it there. But
how is it set on fire, down in the marsh,
where every thing is damp? 1t is well
known that barns are frequently burnt in
consequence Of hay being put into them
before it has been sufficiently dried. The
damp hay infamcs itself. In the same
manner this gas, which is So very com.
bustible, may be set on fire, and the limo.
cent fickering Of its feeble fame, sends
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