Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-12-22
tPhiiadeIPhia Tines

success OF the experiment she was never heard
or again.
SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT DAYS
Besides the prominence which Friday has at
talneO. every Gay or the week has It's super.
stltions attached and Is OF good or evil omen.
With most OF them the reader Is probably
familiar, yet an article OF this kind Woul1
hardly be complete without some enumeration
OF the most common
Sundays child ne FER lacks in place;
Mondays Chi d ia fair in face:
Tuesdays child is full OF grace;
Wednesday IS child is sour and sad:
Thursday q child is loving and glad
fridays child is loving and giving:
And Saturdays child shall work for his living
Sneeze on Monday you sneez= for danger;
sneeze ON Tuesday You kiss stranger;
SIesZe ON Wednesday You saeeze for letter
sneeze on Thursday for something better
Sneeze on Saturday your sweetheart to-morrow
slieeZe on Sunduy your safety seek,
Ahe devil Will chase on the whole Of the week.
Gut your nails Monday you cut them for news;
Gut them Oh TUESDAY a pair OF new shoes;
Out them on Wednesday you cut them for health.
Cat them ON Thursday twill add to Your wealth;
Cat them on Friday you cut them for woe;
Cut them on Saturday journey you'll go:
Cut them on sunday You cut them for evil,
or all the week long you'll be ruled by the devil.
The last two OmenS regarding Sunday must
have originated in the days when it was penal
offenSe for man to kiss his wife on Sunday
and when Melch1sedee Jones was put In the
Stocks for calling on his sweetheart one Sab
bath afternoon.
There are intelligent and well educated peo-
pie whom nothing can induce to try on a
mourning garment when not in black them
selves.
The writer has heard lady upbraiding her
SELF With the keeneSt remOrSe on the death Of
her sister because few Gays previous she had
tfled On DlaCk Grape hat belonging to a friend
visiting at the house. To reason with her and
endeavor TO prove that any connection between
the Two events was impossible comforted her
out little, and to-day iJ is probable that none
OF the family would, upon any consideration,
do the same Thing again.
Every one knows The origin OF the custom of
burying the dead with their feet to the east,
custom universal among Christian nations, and
adopted at first that, as the Lord Is TO come 10
tue east. the dead may arise and stand with
their faces to Him Ia the resurrection. The
usage or centuries has rooted this custom so
deeply that 1t Is little wonder that when 1t Is
departed from the superstitious shade their
heads and propheSy that no good will come of
H. Some or us, indeed, who do not in such case
actually expect another death in the family
must confess to feeling as though our dead
could not rest quietly II laid otherwise than In
this time honored position.
SETTING THE HOUSE IN ORDER
Probably insurance agents are the only
people who have any idea how many men
sensible in other respects, are kept from insur-
ing their lives by the fear either On their own
part or on that OF some member or their fam
HES that the act might shorten their lives and
there are sober business men who die and leave
their estates to endless litigation rather than
make will, because OF the vague fear lest thus
setting their house In order" hasten the day
or death.
From the same fear men refrain from altering
Or adding TO an Old house, and we have known
man prominent in his neighborhood, wealthy
and otherwise liberal to his family who year
after year lived On 10 dwelling which was a
continual mOrJiicatiOn TO his wife and d allrh-
trTs, resisting all their entreatteS to rebuild so
fully was he convinced that he were 90 90 do
HI. death would soon follow. This superstition
Is not o an uncommon one among old people.
years trouble" once said lady to the writer,
when the latter had broken her dolls looking
glass. The augury was fulfilled. but as four OF
seven were the black years or the late civil war,
the trouble was by no means confined TO the
unlucky looking glass shatterer.
Country fok-some in jest, some In earnest
translate the voice OF chicken-cock growing
at the door into "Stranger coming to-day" and
We remember an old LADY who invariably made
preparation for company when the warning
note was sounded upon her premises. In thirty
years, she declared, the sign had never failed
her.
The same old lady had as pet cat as black
as any which ever figured in tale OF NEGRO
NANCY. keep black cat, she used to say,
when the hue Of her favorite was commented
on, keep black cat and you'll never lack for
money" She was wealthy, but few miles Off
lived an old black crOne, mistress OF a cat as
black as her own, who the negress. not the cat)
had the credit Of wttchcraft, and who, In spite
OF her reputed connection with the devil and
the ownership OF the cat, had hard work 10 keep
soul and body together
MKT AT EVERY TURN.
There are thousand and one superst1tions
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
action, yet most OF us remember them I'M
pleasantly now and then, while very many OF
G dd own the truth have we one OF more
Il cannot bear TO have my left eyelid quiver,"
said lady OF cultivation and average lntelli-
g. nee .'Of course believe there is nothing in
IL, but then l can't help feeling, when it does
, 50. as IL trouble were coming
Flenty or people who ought to know better
are nrm DeleVers IN the superstition that 1t is
Qniucky 10 place the shoes which one has worn
curing The DAY otherwise at night than with
us toes pointing to the door, and cannot sleep
Ia peace unless they have done so. Years ago
Tie belief In the evil omen OF spilling salt was
50 prevalent that IL was rtdiculed by Add son In
Tue Spectator: but the superstition still holds
us own. The evil may be averted by throwing
aPnGh = OF SAT- over the LETT shoulder charm
Munlal OF casting rice in the air and pouring
,,loatlons on the ground as propitiatory Offer
ing 10 unseen spirits Among the signs which
In Inc ear. known as the death-bell; the death
WaJch IA peculiar noise caused by small Insect
caJtng lts way through wood, or portrait
TAXING from its place on the WALL and each of
them has more than once given nervous per
SOILS a lit OF the blues.
When the eyes OF corpse refuse to shut they
are ghastly enough, In ali conscience, to give
color to the superstition that they are watch
Ing for some one who Is soon to follow, and II
morse chances to stumble near graveyard its
rider may be excused II his sensations thereat
are none OF the most pleasant, even though he
is not so foolish as to consider 1t an actual
death warning.
III door opens without apparent cause The
Germans have saying, which has come across
the water TO their American descendants, that
spirit has entered, and the cold, nervous
shiyer, which most persons have felt more
or less often, is held to result from footballs
over the future grave Of him who expert
ences 1t.
There are sick nurses who, at the bedside or
the dying. never fail to open door or window
that the parting soul may pass out. The super
St1tton Is, think, OF Scotch origin, and the
reader viii remember Meg Merrilles at the diving
bed CT 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, or eyIl re-
| sulting to the unlucky guests at dinner parties
| OF thirteen. Many intelligent and educated
people harbor this suspicion. Bismarck, 1t is
| said refuses under any circumstances TO sit
down to table with the fatal number, and a