Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-01-29


STIN, MOWER COUN'
said to be tho pctrifcd tears Of tho sisters Of
Phaeton. the unlucky sunchariotccr.
Pliny says it is conntercllnrm for sor-
ccries and Thnlcs imagined it had spirit
Many legends and fn"oiful stories might be
told Of the different flowers. The Greek
poets say that tho original color Of the rose
WAS white, but changed to red by the blood
Of Venus, who laccrated her feet with its
thorns when rushing to the aid of Adonis
The fragrance Of tho rose is said to be deriv.
ed from cup of nectar thrown over it by
Cupid, and its thorns to be tho stings of
bees. with which his bow was strung. The
apple trre is celebrated in thcmythology of
Greeks, Druids and Sca1diuavians. The
Druids used, on special occasions, to bless
apples and distribute them among the pco
pie as a safeguard against evil. They also
regarded the mistlctoe with sacred reverence,
and distributed it rs n preventive against
evil spirits, witchcraft and disease. If any
portion of it fell to tho ground during the
distribution it was considered sign that
some great evil was about to befall tho ma.
ton, and two white bulls were Immediately
sacrificed to break tho spell. Strange tales
have been told Of tho far-famed upas tree of
Java-that its odor poisons the air for hun
dreds of miles around, that birds shun it,
and vegetation beneath its branches is do.
stroyed, and that even men cannot approach
it with impunity. It was an ancient belief
that the spirit of the tree had committed
some great crime, and this was its curse.
Such assertions are said, by those who have
studied the character of the tree from live
specimens, TO be unfounded. The tree does
contain poison, which is extracted from the
tree, but this circumstance has given rise to
many fabulous stories. Keats poem, "The
Eve of St. Agnes" is founded on the ancient
superstition that ON that night a girl could
obtain o knowledge of her future hus.
band. She must take q row of pins and
stick them one after another in her sleeve,
singing during the process Pater noster,
and 80 insure that the important parsonage
would appear that night in her dreams.
We find the following in Moore's "Lalla
Rookh: Among the Hindoos the usual
way Of Offering up vows for tho safe return
of those who had gone on dangerous voy-
ages, was filling alllanp with cocoa-nut
oil, placing it in an carthen dish adorned
with flowers and launching it down the
Ganges. 1.-THE lamp sunk at once the omen
was disasterous ; but if it went shining
down the stream and continued to burn till
out of sight. the return Of the beloved one
was considered certain" To this day in
>one of the countries charms or amulets
are worn against disease, and in some parts
Of Scotland sprains are dealt with by the
old device OF incantation. A piece of woolen
RIn tod
the affected part, the operator meantime
tice of the royal touch originated in Eng
land with Edward the Confessor. Shaks-
peare describes this in his tragedy Of" Mac
BETH" The edition, of the Book of Com
mon Prayerprinted in 1707 and 100 contains
form Of prayer to be read at the ceremony
Of touching for the kings evil. This, how
ever, was omitted soon after. In all nations
and among all nations we find lucky and
unlucky, good and evil days. An Arabian
philosopher says there are three Mondays in
the year which are unfortunate to begin
notable work. The first Monday in April,
on which day Cain was born; the first Mon
day in August, the day in which Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed; and the last
Monday in December, the day on which
Judas lscariot was born. In Chambers
Miscellany we read of q manuscript calen-
dar, of the time of Henry vi, in which the,
writer says there are thirty-two days in the
year when it is perilous to take any sicknes
to be welded, or undertake Journey, to be
hurt in, or commence any enterprise; and
then follows the lis:. The writer evidently
believed in these dark days, although after
giving them he winds up with the rather
inconsistent statement, "scd tanen i,a Uoqu-
ino co'.1alo" (But notwithstanding I will
trust in the Lord -
We must pass by the Thousand and one
superstitions such as, "H You sweep a
room after sundown you sweep away pros
perity from the Threshold" "a Bit of
homemade bread carried in the pocket will
doaway with home Sickness" etc., also
the fruitful topic of superstitions of sailors.
Some writer has said that the belief in these
fancies are pardonable in sailor from the
very sphere he is placed in. "Belng forced
to place implicit reliance on such mvsteri-
ous agents as the rising and falling Of the
tides, the needle obeying q secret law, and
seeing the tickle and inconsistent wind
change for one ,hat never varies, all this
predisposes him to superstition" Yet it
seems strange that one who is so bold and
daring as regards physical danger (from
constant exposure to periD should be such a
slave to groundless and absurd fears. A
sort ofmystical power and awe was in olden
times attached to the number seven; and
among the sacred and wonderful list we
find seven metals, seven planets, and seven
wonders Of the world, all of which modern
discoveries have shown the fallacy Of. In
the early days of ignorance fiction was hal
lowed, and the inventions of the learned
men of those times were listened to with
eager credulity. When we remember this
and the idolatry out of which all these old
tales emerged, we find some excuse for the
ancient believers, and from them at least
learn one lesson-that of faith and zeal in
what we really believe, which cannot be an
swered. In this enlightened ago almost all
superstitions can be explained away either
BY chance, coincidence, or natural connec-
tions; and while an inherent love of the
marvellous, and yearning to know some-
thing of the mysterious and hidden make
some fancy they have faith in these idle
whims; we fall back upon the truth of what
Sir Humdhrey Davy said: "It is only the
thinker who is strong in this
species of unbelief"