Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-08-27
ARrnfaIIzInx Superstition.
Moncure Conway writes to the Cincinr

Moncure Conway writes 10 the Cincinnati
! Commercial: "The fret Belgian newspaper
/ took up after arrival contained report OF
an incident in this region, so dark that En-
gland doomed up in the dis ance, by contrast,
as the Hesperian garden OF civilization,
guarded by its silver sea-drason, unpierced
by any tunnel 1t appears that at Marchi-
ennes -au- Point a miner died, and others OF
the family were ailing. They and their
friends concluded that they were bewltched.
1t was made out among the oraeies about
them that the first person who crossed the
widows threshold after certain Friday
would be the guilty party. This unfortunate
person happened to be Hortense Lecomte.
She was going on a pilgrimage TO the holy
shrine at Leerues, and had to wait Tor 4
train at the INSTRUMENTATION Station.
There she met an acquaintance, who In
yited her to go with her and take cup
of coffee. They went TO the widows
house. After the coffee the widows friends
undertook to attend Hortense TO the station,
but they took pains that she should miss her
train, and persuaded her to return and sleep
at the widows house. So soon as she was
fairly in the house and the doors closed a
woman rushed at her with a knife and cried:
IF you do not remove the spell you have
thrown over US L will kill your Then i'm
mediately two sturdy miners seized poor
Hortense aud set her upon heated stove;
this they did repeatedly, and finally dragged
her 10 a fireplace and threw her down upon
burning cinders. The poor woman would
probably have been tortured to death had
not some one opened the front door. She
managed to escape, but horribly burned. A
considerable number of people were brought
before the magistrate for being concerned in
this affair. They had nothing to say, ex-
cept that they had been thrown under a |
spell, from which one of them had died,
and believed it was cast by this woman,
for no other reason than that she was |
the first to cross the threshold after certain |
Friday. And poor Hortense was a devout |
pilgrim, on her way, possibly, to have some |
ailment cured by Our Lady of Leernes. She |
started aIiL-ta-1 LIZ and Eant-harsalf- I4a.A---a
spell, and had to go through an ordeal OF |
fire on suspicion of having cast spells herself. |
II the poor woman RECEIVERS will she ever |
reflect that from the same fountain come the |
sweet waters her faith saw at Leernes ana |
the bitter waters che tasted at Marchiennes- |
au-Pont? ThoughLless people sometimes talk |
Of innocent or pretty superstitions, without |
mberipg that the mental atmosphere |
which breeds such breeds equally the ugly |
and the venomous superstitions. 1t is a |
notable fact that while these superstitions |
about the evil eye are found in every hole |
and corner of Europe, belief in the good |
eye has disappeared. The 'Mascotte' of |
ne French opera 10 person VINO DrlDSS |
good luck, but it had to be made medieval, |
the superstition being unfamiliar. That |
is simply because for the church Fsints, pre- |
siding over every village and home, has |
been claimed all the good luck that happens |
TO any one. They monopolize the good |
sye.' The priest was willing that the belief |
in the evil eye should remain, in order that |
The local saints might not be responsible for |
the bad luck of their devotees. The belief, |
therefore, in the st. Fanny who heals pill |
grims at her shrine, is the other eide Of be- |
lief in the evil witch who casts spell. The |
pilgrim Hortense missed the pleasant but |
reached the unpleasant shrine OF the same |
fatal power"