The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-06-03
From the Nec HGuen Journal and Courier.
Superstifion.

Much as we may be Ashamed 10. acknowledge il
TO others, or even 10 confess IL 10 ourselves il is
nevertheless true that all more lcss super.
stitious We talk Of the march Of mind, of free
dom from the weaknesses Of our fathers, and laugh
at the credulity Of the believers in judicial astro
ogy, IN divinations, ghosts, witches &c, with
what justice Rochester, Stratford and other places
can answer; or, if any one needs more decisive
evidence, he has only 10 look at his own feelings
and he will find that he is much under the inhu-
enoe Of absurd and puerile superstition any body
ever was in the days Of Prester John. Friday,
from time immcmorial, has been an unlucky day
Many Christian people, who profess to believe in the
government Of God over the world, are 20 this hour
afraid TO commence an important enterprise this
inauspcious day. Then that queer superstition
about horse-shoes Is not quite dead We know one
handsome and large house in this city that s owner
did not think properly protected until be had in
sured against the devil, by mailing old horse shoes
beneath the principal doors What is remarkable,
the identical house still remains with the identical
horse shoe just where il was originally placed to
guard against the Vaccinations OF the evil one. II
this amt proof Of the efficacy Of horse-shoes, we
should like 10 know what proof is.
But in respect 20 other forms Of this folly who is
strong minded enough TO walk, at dead Of night,
among the CHANGING tombstones, the gbostly EN-.
blems Of death, who fails 10 sec i'm the dim star
light Of such hour dseInbodied spirits fitting
with noiseless motion from tomb 10 tomb. rapid in
their ceaselcss abors, man thinks very differ
entity Of ghosts and supernatural agencies under
swcltering sun at twelve O'Clock noon, or under
class Of sympathies which draw in with our mo.
theirs milk and which never leave US oil we part
with all the weaknesses and infrmites Of mortali.
~. Why II should be worse 70 pare ones nails Of
Sunday than on any other day, or why 10 laugh
before breakfast will make you cry before supper,
or Why squint at the moon over one shoulder
should be omnous Of evil, and over the other equal
" oTninous Of good and why fifty other things of
IKE kind should be believed, and by nobody 20
strongly A. by those who laugh most al their alb
s1rdity, Is more than can tell The influences
OF these ianclful supcrstions pass from parent 10
ohld, and from generation 20 generation, unin.
nuehced by strength cultivation Of mind and
even by our religious faith. We all know their alb.
surdity, We acknowledge their weakness we arc
ashamed OF their influence, and we all more or less
feel their power.
II in matters 80 trivial our Childish ima0inations
arc seized with dread that peoples the lark with
terrors, and fills the light with orens and rnarveIs
and that ceases only life shall cease what a ire
mcndous power for good or for evil lies with tho
nurse, the mother, the associates the story ls,oks
and the nursery tales Of childbood-snd how much
more important is the right cultivation Of the
youthful imagination than is commonly supposed
Instead Of anybody writing such books, none but
the pure minded, the refined and those of the best
Judgment aud most cultivated imagination should
lay hands ON the susceptible minds Of lads and
lasses