The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-06-20
SUPERSalrIOSY.
The Queer Things Believed by all Sorts
7SI- Of People.

sf-f OIL People. FrE
Boston Adrtrtiisr.
A curious case Of the survival Of medic.
val superstition in civilized country was
recently revealed in magistrate's court in
rural ireland. Two young peasant women,
named Ellen Cushion and Anastasia
Rourke, Of comely appearance and not e1.
ceptional ignorance, were brought up
charged with groes cruelty towards little
gill 3 years old. They had availed them.
selves OF the absence Of the parents to take
the child from its heme, and, apparently
without the slightest qualm Of pity, to place
it on hot shovel, and keep 1t there until Il
was dangerously. ii not fatally burned, Il
appears that the child had become what ia
called in Ireland "fsiry chaugelipg !" and
their honest but benighted purpose had
been to exercise the evil spirit which
had entered ito infantile psrson,
Tho girl was deformed and Grip.
pied, and this seems 10 have been
the circumstance which convinced the
women Of its supernatural origin. In in.
aicling the cruelty they did, they only fol.
lowed what ia rooted superstition in some
parts of Ireland. 1t is thoroughly believed
by many Of the ignorant and imaginative
peasantry that fairies, both good and had.
actually revisit the glimpseSo OF the moon.''
and play all sorts Of good or ill-natured
pranks upon mortals. These fairies, or
elvee, are thought to be exceedingly small
and light, and to. have the power Of yolun.
tary inv!sibility. They are eaid to dwell
in picturesque caves underground, or be-.
meath the llmpid waters Of Erin's lakes:
and sometimes the peasants imagine thai
they near tho elves discoursing sweetest
music in the B1bterranean depths. One Of
tho tavorite tricks Of the evilly disposed
elves is to enter house through chimney
or key.hole, take away the children and
replace them with elfchildren, to whom
the people give the name OF fairy change.
lirga" g. =
Ireland is not the only civilized region
where the teeming supcrsti,ions. which
had their rise In the Middle Ages. sill
lurk and linger. In England, and espec.
tally in Scotland, tho historic hobgoblin
etill holds his own in many nook and
corner Of the land. The Scotch "brownien
corresponding to the "banshee" OF The
lrish, still alarms the denizsn Of the re.
moter Highland Businesses. Ghost.lore ia
eagerly credited in the rural regions of
Southern England. Many an Italian peas.
ant atill devoutly shrinks from the small
occhio;" but the ''evil eye" also on occa.
sion disturbs the slumbers Of the Dsyon
hind. The Germans are, perhaps. Inc
least supsrsti,ious OF Europeon peoplts:
yet there is scarcely locality in the Faith.
erland where phantom tales do not cluster
around hoary achlosees or solitsry houses,
devoutly believed in by the grape.gro wers
and farmers. Superstition, 1t need not be
said, is also rile in the Pagan Orisnt, and
there, sad to say, 1t oitencat takes cruel
aud vengeiul forms. There is, perhaps.
not country in Europe or Asia whers the
belief in wi!chcralt Is wholly extinct. Less
than twenty years ago an old Frencbman.
accueed ot witchery, WAS lynched bv an
English mob in a country town. Such
things have happened in rural France al a
much moro recent period. A low years
ago, at Nagpore, two Hindoos were CON.
demned to penal servituds for life, because
they sRvsoely put to death no iees than
eight persons whom they declared TO be- |
witches, WHO had cast their spells over the
faithful of the neighherhuod. fsss LIAR |
z On this side OF the aea, is scarcely |
necessary. to add, the physician and the |
encounter both gross and |
subtle forms Of superstitions. The con.
tributions, for example, made by thel