The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-02-10
rs YOUR HOODOO?


game of cards. success in which lay
not SO much in winning the game as in
playing a poor hand well. But. like
the other sciences, that of philosophy
advances. and the thoughtful student
of natural effects has at length dimly
learned to suspect that success III II
thing. humauIy speaking, is only to be
really obtained from ones hoodno.
This fact has been virtually admitted.
though in = blind, dumb way. by all
people and by al classes since til. exis
tence of the world. Whether it PIE
sents itself III the fetish of the
savages, the incantation of the gypsy
OF the restless plomptings OF fatality
that impei the Caucasian gamb!er;o
destroy the precise pack Of cards with
which his losses have been made, the
primary cause remains the same, and
at the bottom hes that most Withdrawn
Of natures secrets-the hoodoo.
Let the lip Of the supposed superior
intelligence OF our day curl never so
superciiousljy at the popular fancies
regarding what is vaguely called ''luck''
there is still something to be said for
tie defendant The sailors adherence
Of sailing on a Friday ; the housewives
caution anent getting out Of the wrong
side of the bed the old country dis
taste for meeting Il black cat ; the
worldwide avoidance of spiiling the
salt at the ~tab!e-may be lightly put
down as "superstitiun," ''relics of bar
barism," and all that, but yet that
great regulator and originator of all
neutrality-suspicious., the slow acquired
certainty Of cent"ries-remains un
changed aud unaffected, as all natural
results. will be to ali time. The cold
fact istthat all the so-calied ''supersti
tons" are but the outcr"pping of tha-
great mysterious force of negation in
nature, which, always for want of a bet
ter word. be it understood, we shall call
the .'hoodoo."
The c~lev-rest paper ever written by
Gail Hamilton was devoted to 1.-The To
tai Depravity Of Inanimate Things i'll
which she particularly instances the in
telligent malice and aforetllought with
which a dropped article of small size. Il
collar button. say. instantly rolls into
the most secret and inaccessible nook
IN the whole floor. In said article she
was unconsciously formulating a phase
of the hoodoo. We have known men
to be hoodooed by a pair OF boots. a
watch, a cane, a horse-anything, in
fact, may be the medium for transmits
sion of this contrary current of mega
ton from the great outside reservoir
where it is stored by nature, so to
speak. The great art, therefore, is to
discover ones hoodoo, and remove or
destroy il. and most important part Of
the writer's patent hoodoo theory is
that all persons a so discover theis
hoodoos if they will. We do not use
the comparison "evil genius" in this
connection. for it is now at least evi
dent that this quality of negation is a
purely natural, passive and normal in
fuence, which never varies, bat act
with automatic and impartial constan
cy. The writer remembers a man in
the southern part of the State who was
hoodooed by his revolver certain or
nate weapon presented him by a friend
in the East. The scrapes and trouble
that pistol got its actually well-mean
ing owner into were something incredi-
bic. Finally, by an iuscrutable inspira
ton he recognized his hoodoo, and
wrote to his friend, its giver. that he
would return the weapon by the same
mail, of course recognizing the fact the
hoodoo of one person was not necessari
]y that of another. Before packing the
pistol he withdrew the cartridges and
placed it upon the mantelpiece. While
momentarily absent from the room the
thrifty Chiua boy entered and replaced
the loads. His employer returned, and.
picking upthe revolver. playfully point
ed it at his OWL temple aid pulled the
trigger. His hoodoo was buried with
him by order of the Coroner.-Derrick
Dodd.