The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-06-23
CURIOUS sUPERSTITIONS.
Onions and Signs that Have Come from
the Old World.

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Omens and Signs that Have Come from
the Old World.
It is very commonly believed, says ,
New York paper, that the assembling
of thirteen persons at table insures tht
death of one of the party before the year!
end. Like many other social supersti
tions, this foolish notion has probably
survived the strange delusions which
existed in the world during the darl
ages that intervened between the fourth
century of the Christian era and the re-
vival of Christianity. The birth, suffer.
ings and death of our Lord has furnished
innumerablc incidents on which mys'
terious superstitions and sayings have
been founded. For example, in many
parts of England, and in the New Eng.
land States, it is believed that the cattle
kneel in their stalls on Christman eve,
at midnight, in remembrance OF the
nativity. Possibly some OF our readers
remember how they were wont, in their
childhood, under the direction of ignor.
ant and superstitious servants, to 90
into the snow-bound barn, by night,
"to sec the cattle kneel" on Christmas
eve.
Many of these perverted beliefs come
from over the seas. As our forefathers
brought with them the superstitious
notions of Old England which we find
transplanted in the New England, so
later emigrants have brought the super
stitlons OF other lands. The Cornish
miners in the Pacific States, for exam
ple, say that they hear on Christmas
eve, far down in the depths OF the mines,
supernatural voices singing: NOW
we'll! Now well!' One authority says
that our Lord was cruciied on an ashen
tree, wherefore, as is known, SNAKES DO
show such dread of that tree that they
may be driven from their haunts by
chips and slivers of the ash: But an
other equally learned authority declare
that lightning never strikes the elder, for
the reason that the cross was made OF
the wood of that tree, and therefore it
is hallowed for all time. Nevertheless,
it is popularity believed that the leaves
of "tho light quivering aspen " shiver
and shake because the tree is in agony
for the shameful death of the Savior
wrought upon it in the time of PLATE.
And the belief that some one of party
of thirteen at table will die before the
year is out is founded upon the remem-
brance of our Lord and his twelve dis
ciples at table where the last supper was
eatan.
There are multitudes of intelligent
people who hesitate to sit at table with
a party OF thirteen, although the objector
does not know whence the idle supertl-
ton began. He has heard Of instances
of persons dying soon after being one OF
thirteen at dinner-table. He does not
believe in the superstition, but he would
rather be on the safe side, 80 he declines
to sit. How many people do not like to
see the new moon over their left shoul-
der? How many fail to turn over in
their pockets the few coins which nap
pen. to be therein when they see the new
moon through glassp It is not an un-
common thing for sensible men and
women to deter beginning a piece of
work, which might have been begun OF
a Saturday, until some other day, on &C
count of the popular belief that work
begun of Saturday will never be fln-
ished. 80.
The homes of New England and Of
New York and other States for that
matter are filled with signs and won
ders, omens and superstitions. 1t is
unlucky to weigh new born children;
they will not thrive, and they may not
live. When children are first taken
from the room in which they were born
they must 90 upstairs before they 90
downstairs; otherwise they will
never rise in the worl Very likely
some of our readers have seen nurse
mount a chair with the baby III her
arms when there was no room in the
house higher than the baby's BIRTH
place. It is difficult to trace the origin
of this superstition, but it must have
been derived from some pagan notion:
The popular saying in New England
that when a girls petticoat is longer
than her gown her mother loves her
less than her father need not be rele-
gated to the dark ages. The breaking
Of a looking glass as an omen OF death
in the family is easily explicable. It's
the breaking of the image Of some one
in the household. But why a stranger
should be expected to arrive very soon
after fork, pair of scissors or other
sharp-pointed instrument falls and
sticks upward in the floor is not to be
understood. Yet multitudes of women
set their house in order when such a
warning comes to them. A strangers
approach is also warned often by the
dropping of dish-cloth on the floor.
Manifestly, this came to be acc pied as
sign because it would be mortifying
for the stranger to come in before the
dish cloth could be taken up and the
room made tide.
Old wives by the sea coast hold many
superstitions concerning the "hollow'
sounding and mysterious main" thus
Dickens tells us that Barkis lingeredl n
his dying until the turn OF the tide,
when, the tide going out, Barkis went
out with it. In New England it is un-
lucky to kill pig in the wane of the
moon or at the ebbing of the tide; the
pork will shrink in the boiling. Water
in the dinner pot evaporates more
rapidly over the fire when the tide is
"dead low" 1t is unlucky to eat fish
from the head downward; it drives
away the fish from the shores. To tell
the stage of the tide without going to
the beach; look in cats eyes; the pupil
ofevery intelligent cats eye is elongated
when the tide is at the food. Never
count catch of fish until the days work
or sport is done. Otherwise the sport is
spoiled. Similarly the seaside farmer
never counts his lambs until the season
for their dropping is over. But it is not
alone in rural communities that men
and women keep up customs and rites
founded on pagan superstition. among
The ancient Greeks and!Romans it " as a
common custom for the bridegroom to
give his bride, on the wedding-night a.
Considerable sum OF money, by way, OF
purchase Of her person. From This
usage, no doubt, we have derived the
custom of making wedding, presents,
under which so many people groan;;
The ancient SaXons gave. q betrothaI
II ing, or other gift, which was called
"a wed" and from which we nave &C.
rived a very charming word. Flfth
avenue throws an old shoe alter the
parting bride. Is this because our
sterner forefathers ordained that the
bride should tap his neW-made
wife on the head with his shoe as a
token of her submission to her lord!
Explosive Diamonds.
The Nineteenth Century tells OF a
sleeve button bearing rose diamond
which exploded under the influence OF
sunshine. 1t appears that the person
wbo ,yore this hutton was one day