The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-01-04

AN lOur OF TWO ldCeT Sdlu, Due
wasn't it rather a risky thing to do
with a ring worth five hundred
pounds?" f4
My father winked at me with the
solemnits Of Judge. MY dear Ned,
what do you take your old dad for?
The diamonds were nothing but
paste" -HarrpeS's Weekly.
Signs and Omens.
LET none of us boast ourselves as
free from the servitude of supersti-
ton so long as we nourish our pet
signs and sacrifice to our favorite
omens. How many of us dare to be-
gin piece of work on Friday, lest we
never finish it? How many of us re-
fuse to cut our nails on Sunday, lest
misfortune follow us all the week In
deed, superstition has made quite a
point in the matter of fnger-nails, and
instructs us that the maiden who alb
breyiates them upon Saturday will see
her true love on the morrow. There
are those of us who even yet believe
in the evil eye, and hear their death
warrant in the baying of dog or the
crash of a mirror-Who would almost
starve sooner than sit the thirteenth
at table. In the creed of these it is
an evil omen to count the stars-you
will certainly die before you have fin
ished. To see the moon over your left
shoulder presages ill-luck, though one
ought to feel fortunate at seeing it at
all hazards; to receive or to bestow
the gift of pointed or sharp instru-
ment argues certain destruction of
friendship between the two; to pick
UP pin with the point toward you is
of such import that one had better
want a pin forever than to secure it
at this cost. So little have most of us
outgrown the belief that coming events
cast their shadows before, that for a
harmless bird to enter our dwelling is
prognostic of some dire event. There
is probably not one of us who, upon
spilling the salt, will not seek to ap-
pease the gods by throwing a pinch
over the shoulder-unless we especial
ly banker after quarrel. If our
scissors stick in the floor upon falling,
we straightway expect a stranger; if a
hostess, through inadvertence. sends
us two spoons to our cup of bohea, we
anticipate present. Who of us would
put On the mourning bonnet of anoth-
er without shudder of apprehension !?
And do we not learn that to sing be-
| fore breakfast is most dangerous er-
ror? Perhaps because there are ma
larias abroad in the morning air, with
which it is not wise to fill ones lungs
while the stomach is empty. Does not
the verse tell us, -....
Sing in the street, "-.
| Disappointment you'll meet?''
1t may be because singing thus denotes
great citation of spirits, which is in
variably followed by corresponding de-
preston; while the prophesy that
"those who sing in the morning will
cry before night" belongs to the same
family, and is derived probably from
the same natural causes.
"A maid shall not marry on a Wednesday,
maid shall not marry in the month of May"
we are told, though one would be in
clined to think that Wednesday, after
the washing and ironing were put
away, would be most opportune sea-
son for wedding.
Change your name and not your letter,
You'll change for the worse and not the better"
is saying, however, that the most
superstitious is brave enough to defy
at Cupid's bidding. Who of us has
not known mother to persist in car
rying her newborn child int the attic
before taking him down to the parlor,
in order that he may be sure to rise in
the world? or one to whom the rock
ing of an empty cradle would give a
chill of foreboding? Who has not
know the nurse to shake her head over
the weighing of the baby? And have
we not fallen in with some rheumatic
old fellow who tells us that the horse
chestnut in his pocket "has been
better'n all your doctors stuff"
though its curative powers may not be
visible in the distorted limbs of the
4 believer? #&f
In the beginning, doubtless, most of
these superstitions had natural and
reasonable origin, though they have
become so corrupted by time and
overlaid by prejudice that we can see
nothing but nonsense in them. Why
should it be lucky to put on garment
inside out, unless the trouble it oc-
casions teaches us particularly and
painstaking? If we break two arti-
cles, why must we perforce break a
third, unless it is that careless .hab-
it grows upon onep And why must
we buy something in order to, break
the spell of slippery fingers, unless it is
to teach lesson in profit and loss
Why do dead mems shoes never wear
long? Or is it only another version of
Eight come, light CO." and confirma-
ton of the fact that we only value
what we secure with effort? Does
| the admonition never to count your
fish when fishing, or you will catch no
more, merely signify that it is unwise
to rest on ones laurels and let oppor-
tunity slip by?-that there is a. tide
in the affairs of men, as well as of fish
es !? Truth to tell, we should be sorry
to part with some of our pleasant
superstitions, which often lend a
charm to our commonplace expe-
riences, linking them with the inscru-
table and mysterious. Has not the
finding of a rusty horseshoe frightened
the dull day for us2 ofga ~ ~
| How it touches our quick heart n
| When Fate, by omens, takes onr parti'.
when we discover four-leaved clover,
for instance, and .i., ~ ..., {. :
Garry in cur hearts for days s7ia
Peace that hallows rudest ways SIS
-Hayper's Bazar.
| --->e>- -A
| -YOunU Mr. Gadslnr hoe ONLY, l,ooy