The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-11-07

O'0 "e HVt o"O"tueF-oWtepHy DoU"
Spiders Webs-Rieking Up Pins Weigh.
ing Babies- ThrosCing A,rdy Hair-Spa.
ling SaA-Thirteen at Table -Extinguished
Lights Dreams.
Whatever special religion it may have
been the accident of ones life 10 be born
to, and therefore to consider as the only
means Of salvation, admitting the chosen
few of the peculiar cult to the bliss Of
Paradise, and sending the balance Of hu-
manity incoutinently to perdition, still,
whatever that peculiar educational infu-
ence may be, whether Mohammedan, Par
seeism, Buddhism, Christianity with its
bundle of isms, or any other-still, outside
of this, all nations and each individual
have some tenet of faith not embraced in
their creed, and accordingly designated
superstition.
1t is all very well to assert that one is
not superstitiOus, but watch any Of your
friends, and see if each has not some little
proverb or wise saying upon which he OF
she pins certain portion of faith. How
many people thoroughly up in the science
Of the day shudder when mirror falls
and breaks without any apparent cause.
For weeks they go about with gloomy
forcboding of death aud, if within year
there is the slightest incidental fact, these
early impressions assume all the dignity
of facts supported by circumstantial evi.
dence.
Grave and reverend signors have been
unhappy at seeing the moon over their
left shoulder, and every matter that goes
wrong during the succeeding month ia
mentally, if not orally, laid to tho charge
of that unlucky look over the left shoulder
1t is the greatest difficulty that you can
get your Scandinavian maid to sweep down
u spiders web. You show it to her and
leave the room. Return and you will
find the whole place scrupulously neat
with the exception of the still pendent
lace-suggestors. Standing beside her, you
insist that her broom shall be used to re
move the eye sores, and you then learn
that she will brush her chance Of lover,
away il she disturbs these webs. Ii you
are au American, married, and not seek
ing higher inspirations than your husband
can afford you, you relieve her and your
self by vigorous handling of the broom
yourself. Your daughter, however, hai
overheard the remark. There may b.
something in it, and, until the ring is OIL
her finger, she, too, carefully abstaini
from touching the spiders web. He MAJ
spin across her windowpa ne, or in the cor
ners Of her room, and, alt hough she has NJ
special love for the Arachnid@, she still
refuses to cut the thread of fate this on,
of the family is spinning.
Your little girl is told by her nurse tina
she must not undress or dress each foo
consecutively, hut must alternate th,
putting on or of of tho coverings. Il
would not be lucky for her during the day
if she put shoes, stockings and garter Oh
the right foot, and then on the left; bu
she must make some inroad, such as botl
stockings followed by shoe and garter
or vice persa, or in fact, any change BY
which she can vary it. Taught this il
childhood, she half unconsciously carriei
it out through life, and if, by any accident
she breaks the rule, she is uneasy for the
day, and on the lookout for III luck
Always pick up pin when the head is
towards you; but if the point presents
itself first let it lie. Never mind what
necessities Of comfortably or decently
apparcling yourself make that pin absolu-
tely necdful, you must not pick it up. &c
around all day with an uncomfortable
feeling at your throat because the button
is off your shirt and your collar is loose
but don't touch that pin unless the head is
toward you. If you are nearsighted and
your glasses ara in some unknown place
search for them until you find them, or &C
down on your hands and knees and
examine the position. If it is an extreme
case, in which total Generalization Of
attire may depend upon the securing Of
that particular pin, then you may walk
carefully around it three times, saying, in
low and solemn tone, seven times
Pin, though you are pointed toward me,
Pointless may all sharp points be
Of disappointment or misery
To the head of Hope hurry me.
This will ward off the evil, and you may
then, in a reverential manner, pick W
the pin and so forth decently into Tho
world.
1t is not part of your written creed
but sort of higher law, sprung from som.
mystical source, whose hidden origin
makes it all the more imperative. Dom
have your baby weighed when he is born
If you do he will somewhere between
that ceremonial aud ten score, probably
Then, even if 1t were not such fearfu
interfering with Providence-albeit j
might seem to be practical solution 0
the Malthusian philosophy-it is mucl
better to guess ut the weight. II call
your higher faculties into play, and form
an alliance between imagination an,
mathematics not possible under any othe
circumstances. II almost disproyes tn
axiom that figures cannot lie. In thi
coalition, If the figures do not lie, they ar
capable Of an expansion which mucl
increases their hulk. The mathematica