Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-10-29
Legends and Superstitions.

Traditions, legends and superstitions
closely linked as they often are, remain
very distinct in themselves and In
their influence. A tradition NAV be
true; legend is not only untrue, but
Improbable; and superstition is fool,
lSh belief in the supernatural and i'm.
possible. The first two are apt to be
full of interest and charm; the last is
always blight, wherever it NAV set.
tie. The world abounds in wild and
marvellous stories that are believed in
by the uneducated. For instance. in
almost every country there are legends
about long sleepers. According to
them, Charlemagne sleeps in Hess,
seated on his throne, with crown on
head and sword in band, waiting till
Ant1christ shall come; the seven youths
OF Ephesus, who refused to bow down
to the idol Of the Emperor Decius,
sleep on, their faces fresh as roses. till
the resurrection day; Epimenides slept
nfty-seVen years; Christian priest
sleeps in st. Sophia till the Turk shall
be cast out; three Bohemian miners
sleep in the heart of the Kuttenburp:
and Rip Van Wrinkle slept twenty
years in Kaatskills. In the great mills
OF Thuringia still sleep Frederic Barba.
rOssa and his six knights. A shepherd
once penetrated into a long winding
cave in the heart of the mountain. and
there found the seven all asleen the
Emperor's red beard having grown
through the marble table. The noise
OF footsteps awakened him, and he
asked:
DO the ravens still fly over the noun.
tains p
YES replied the shepherd; they
Then we must sleep another hund-
red years, answered the monarch: and
turned again to rest. -
In Switzerland three William Tells
sleep in a cave. A brave boy once
crept in. -s.I u -.
what o'clock is it % asked the third
Tell.
'NOOn,' replied the lad.
% dear! the time has not come. said
Tell; and lay down again.
There are many superstitions about
the man in the moon, and almost every
county in the world has story about
him. In New England the nurses tell
the children that this man was found by
Moses gathering sticks on a Sabbath,
and that, for being SO wicked, he was
doomed to reside in the mool. till the
last day. r.,ae .y--5 1 = -.
III you don't believe it, they say.
look in the Bible. 1t is all told in the
fifteenth chapter of Numbers
The Germans have the tale this way:
Ages ago there went one Sunday morn
ing an old man into the forest to cut
wood. When he had made bundle he
slung it on his staff, cast it over his
shoulder, and started for home. On his
way he met minister, all in his bands
and robes, who asked him:
Don't you know, my friend, that it
ls Sunday on earth, when all must rest
from their labors %
Sunday on earth, or Monday in
heaven, it is all one to mev laughed
the wOOdman.
Then bear your burden forever said
the priest, said the priest; and as YOU
value not Sunday on earth. Won shall
day. :
Thereupon the speaker vanished, and
the man was caught up, with cane and
fagots, into the moon, where you can
see him any clear night.
In Norway they think they see both
man and woman, the story goes.
that the former threw brambIes at peO-
pie going to church, and the latter made
butter on Sunday. In the clear. cold
nights of winter they will point out the
man carrying his bundle of thorns, and
the woman her bIltter-tnh