The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-09-19

utit IL 81 pf pfCNdliiiiS cuPOioSitiOL,
almost as old as the world itself, that
looking back is attended with i'll
luck to the traveller. Whether he
pursued his way on foot, on horse
back or in some private or public
conveyance, his only safety is to look
ahead. The rule holds good, in the
majority of instances, but like every
other rule, it has its exceptions.
For example, the man who turns
not TO the right or left, but fixes his
gaze constantly ahead, may be as
sailed by some enemy on the side
or the rear and be seriously damaged
when he least expects it, and against
whose attacks he has not placed
himself on guard Men are stabbed
in the side and back, and in more
than one sense of the word, by an
unseen and lurking enemy, when
looking ahead and paving no at
tention to any other line ofapproach
whatever. To be perfectly safe in
this world we should not only be
lynX-eyed but Argus-eyed, for with
all the precautions we can use, we
are not free from danger.
Still. as a general thing, it is best
to look ahead. First, because in
travelling we do not pursue our Jour-
ney backward, but with our faces
forward, and to look ahead is to turn
our attention in the right direction.
If we look back or to the side we
NAV lose sight of the objects be-
fore us and may come in rude
contact with them in a manner not
only unpleasant but damaging. If
we go back to the time when it is
most probable this superstition orig
mated. we find that when Lot with
his family and cattle was being led
by an angel, outside the doomed
cities of the plain, his wife looked
back and was severely punished for
it. And as no one at the present
day. we take it, has a particular fan
cy for being turned into a pillar OF
salt, we are doubtless on the safe
side when we keep our eyes fixed on
objects in advance of US. We do
not care about quoting heather au-
thority, although in point of wisdom,
the heather sometimes know about
as much as we do; in Hindoostan,
it is considered exceedingly unfor-
tunate for either man or woman to
look back when they have once left
their house. To avoid their doing
so, it is fixed practice, that when
a man goes out and leaves something
behind, which his wife knows he
will want, for her to pick up the
article and follow after him with it.
And if he chances to look back,
before she overtakes him, he at once
brings his jovrney to an end and
postpones it to another time. The
same feeling and practice still pre-
vail in some parts OF England,
Ireland and Scotland and among
certain classes, they have a pretty
strong hold on the American mind.
We are now looking ahead for the
Sabbath that will dawn upon US to-
morrow. We will neither turn
back, nor to the right or the left, but
press forward to meet it as a day of
rest. 1t wonld not hurt us any, but
on the contrary, be of great advan-
tage. We should not only look
ahead but look far ahead, for it is
only too true that this world we are
so heavily loaded with our cares
and difficulties that even our Sab
baths only slightly redeem US from
our dependency; and have long
since made up our mind that there
is somewhere in the universe an
economy of the Divine Being, a place
where the burden can be laid down,
and the imperfect, finite rest which
our Sabbath days bring here, will be
succeeded by that which is perfect,
infinite and eternal, and to which
we ought at all times to look ahead.