The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-12-02
A FEW SUPERSTITIONS.

-Sunday magazine.
A FEW SUPERSTITIONS.
How Certain Little Occurrences in eryDay
Life Are Regarded Their 1nfuencelUpOn the
Weak.
From the Philadelphia Times.
There are a thousandand one superstitions
strung upon the thread Of our everyday
lives and which meet us at every turn. Few
Of us are weak enough to let them influence
our actions, yet most of us remember them
unpleasantly now and then, while very many
Of us, did we own the truth, have one or
more omens which we would prefer not to
encounter.
Il cannot bear to have my left eyelid
culver" said lady Of cultivation and aver
age intelligence. "Of course I know there
is nothing in it, but then I can't help feel
ing, when it does so, as if trouble were
coming"
Plenty of people who ought to know bet
ter are firm believers in the superstition
that it is unlucky to place the shoes which
one wore during tn day otherwise at night
than with the toes pointing to the door and
cannot sleep in peace unless they have done
50.
Years ago the belief in the evil omen of
splitting salt was so prevalent that it was
ridiculed by Addison in the Spectator; but
thessuperstition still holds it's own. The
evil may be averted by throwing a pinch of
salt over the left shoulder, a charm which
is clearly a relic of the old heather ceremo-
NAL Of casting rice in the air and pouring
ibations on the ground as proprietary Of
fe1ing to unseen spirits. Among the signs
1yni tn o+n11 IN
ringing in the ear known as death bells;
the death watch "a peculiar ticking noise
caused by a small insect cutting its way
through wood, Or a portrait falling from
its place on the wall, and each of them have
more than once given nervous persons fit
Of the blues.
When the eyes Of corpse refuse to shut
they are CHASTITY enough, in all conscience,
to give color to the superstition that they
are watching for some one who is soon to
follow, and if q horse chances to stumble
near grave yard its rider may be excused
if his sensations there at are none of the
most pleasant, even though he is not so
foolish as to consider it an actual death
warming.
If a door opens without apparent cause
the Germans have a saying which has come
across the water to their American descend
ants, that spirit has entered, and the cold,
nervous shiver, which most persons have
felt more or less often, isheld to result from
footballs over the future grave Of him who
experiences it.
There are sick nurses who, at the bed
side Of the dying, never fail to open door or
window that the parting soul might pass
out. The superstition is, think, of Scotch
origin, and the reader will remember Meg
Merrilies at the dying bed Of the gypsy,
chanting:
Open lock-end strife
Come death and end life.
DINNER PARTIES.
Tragic stories are related in various parts
of the country at home and abroad of evil
resulting to the unlucky guests at dinner
parties Of thirteen. Many intelligent and
educated people harbor this superstition.
Bismarck, it is said, refuses under any
circumstances to sit down to table with
the fatal number, and a prominent
business man of New York is reported to
owe his start in life to the ready tact with
which he suddenly remembered pressing
engagement, when the failure of two invited
guests to appear at dinner given by A. T.
Stewart reduced the number present to thir-
teen, to Mr.. Stewards evident annoyance
All OF us number among our acquaintance
wives who never remove their wedding ring,
and who, were it to slip off accidentally.
would surely expect some dire misfortune.
II should think his ears would burn" is a
common remark when person is made the
subject of continued conversation, and $50
many stitches you take upon you, so many
lies will be told about YOU is as frequently
qnoted when a rent is hastily sewn up with
out changing the torn garment.
In nearly every land the moon is the sub
ject Of numerous superstitions. She regu-
htes the changes of the weather-phases
must be consulted in soap making, in kill
ing meat, in planting, in dozens of the COM
mon pursuits Of life, and to see the new
moon through trees over the left shoulder,
with no money in the pocket, is thought to
be terribly unlucky.
Should coal pop out from a wood fire
and bnrn q lady's dress the event foretells a
sutton for her heart and hand, and if two
spoons come together in the sugar dish a
wedding in the family is to be expected with
equal certainty.
"Sing before breakfast you'll CRY before
supper" and BLESSED be the bride the sun
shines on" have passed into familiar adages.
Swallows building in a chimney bring
good luck to the house, butnot the dwellers
therein if the birds be molested
Killing cat is thought by many to be a
dire misfortune, and he who does it is