St. Landry democrat., 1879-09-06
SupcrstitiOns Among German
Soldiers.
fAll the Year Round. |


DR.. Russ tells a story of an Hun
garian officer who was severely, though
bv no means fatally wounded in the
field of Sadowa. He was fast bleeding
to death, however, when the surgeon
came to him, but might have been
saved had he not obstinately refused all
aid. The surgeon noticed that he held
something very tightly in his hand,
which he pressed convulsively to his
breast. Presently he began to tremble
violently, and crying out, 1T has done
me no good!' threw away Il piece of
paper, and the next morning expired.
The paper was found to be a talisman,
bearing some written characters which
were quite unintelligible. The pool
fellow trusted in its supernatural power
until aid by natural means was out of
the question, and then cast it away with
pang of despair. Many Il similar
agonizlng discovery was made during
the war of 1901, too late for the
learner to profit by the experience.
After the battle Of Worth in particular,
Il great number of talismans, charms,
and the like were picked up close to the
corpses Of those who had clung to them
until, in their last agony, they had lost
faith in their healing virtue, and had
hung tlltul NN IL ItIuSu uOJ Dt sup
posed, however, that the German sol
dieI as class is given to this kind of
superstition. 1t was found, on inyes-
tigation, that there was close relation
between education and the existence of
such beliefs. The provinces which
were in the lowest state us regards
education gave the largest contingent
Of those who were thus crcdulous.
Talismans, charms, letters OF eXcmp-
tions, etc, were found in largest pro-
portion among recruits from the Polish
provinces, and in those provinces cdu-
cation is at the lowest point. Thus,
taking the quotas to the army from the
various parts Of the empire, the per-
centagt of those who could neither read
nor write was as follows: Hessc- Darms-
tadt 0.J, Hessc Cassel O.9, Wurtemberg
O13, Frankfort and Schleswig Holstein
O.15, Saxomy O.4G, Rhenish provinces
OF, Laucnburg 0:93, Brandenburg 0.SG,
Pomerania lis, Wcstphalia 1.SS, Silesa
3.4, Polish provinces 1858, Posen II. u.
In those parts of Prussia which were
formerly part of Poland several cir
cumstances have contributed to keep
alive some Of the rudest forms of Sll-
perstition. The change OF language
has had something to do in the matter !;
the low state of religion, and the little
contact people have had with the world
at large, have also contributed. No.
where does the bear-lcader drive so
profitable a trade, by way of expeIling
the devil from cattle stalls and pro-
tecting geese and swine from his in
tluence, as there; and in few parts do
witches need closer looking after or
more careful circumventing. No Won
der, therefore, that recruits from these
provinces put faith in amulets and
charms, and carried with them "letters''
to protect them from hostile swords
and bullets. The commonest form of
Freidbrief is Il simple slip of paper
bearing a prayer in Latin, or a petition
for the protecting grace of MARY, the
Mother of God or Of some local saint.
Some, however, are of a much ruder
form. One such talisnlanic piece of
paper found on the person of a dead
Posener contained in German, though
written in Latin characters, the scarcely
cabalstic words: "Nur INNER zu, du
ochse !'-Go it, thou OK. This charm
had probably been bought OF a wander
ing peddler, of whom there are so many
who drive a good trade in this kind of
thing with the poor peasantry. Genuine
Freibriefe are rarely made public, their
owners preserving them with the great
est secrecy for fear of Idicule, and
those who make money out of them for
another but equally personal reason.