The Democratic advocate., 1885-04-18
VOL. XX.-NO. %.

MahoneyP "Tm not the fairy's child 7
But the fairy mother did not listen to her
child's cries nor save him from his terrible
fate by bringing back the healthy Johnny
Mahoney. Accordingly the parents were
arrested and tried for the crime they had
committed, and their belief in fairies did
not help them any.
When to sneeze and where to sneeze
seems to have been matter of SOME mo-
ment among the ancients. According to
Aristotle, sneezing from noon to midnight
is good, and from night to noon the re-
verse, and another learned sneezologist de-
clares eff any one sneeze for three nights
in succession, it may be taken as sign
that some one will die in the house" or
that some other calamity is close at hand.
In Lancaster the old-folk lore will have it
that much depends on the day when the
sneeze is uttered.
sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger.
Sneeze on Tuesday, you kiss stranger
Sneeze on Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter
Sneeze ON Thursday for something better.
Sneeze on Friday, you'll sneeze for sorrow
Sneeze on Saturday, your sweetheart tomorrow.
Sneeze on Sunday, your safety seek.
In the sixteenth century there lived at
Rome one Famianus Snader, who was
professor of rhetoric in the Gregorian Col
lege, and among his contributions to liter
ature is an elaborate work on the subject
of sneezing. He studied the subject thor
oughly, and relates that one Pistor Subur
ranus died in a fit of sneezing, expiring at
the twenty-fourth sneeze.
Milton, the grand old poet of Paradise
Lost, says, Harmless, if not wholesome,
as sneeze," and Dean Swift, in relating
the adventures of Gulliver, has it that "the
captains nose was tickled with straw,
which made him sneeze violently"
That there is proper time and place to
sneeze, both when it can be proftably done,
is evidenced by the conduct of young en-
sign, poor and friendless, of the English
army. He was once attending grand
ball, and stood near an immensely fat duch-
ess. She inadvertently uttered an enor-
nous sneeze-in fact, snort, calculated to
bring upon her the ridicule of the assem-
bled guests The young ensign took in
the situation, reechoed the refrain, and,
grasping his nose as if to throttle the sneeze,
rushed from the room, leaving the guests to
suppose that he was the offender The
next day he received captains commits
sion from the duchesss husband, with
line from the madam that 'sit was an i'll
sneeze that did nobody any good"
Sneezes were always interpreted favor
ably. 1t was always believed that Cupid
sneezed whenever a beautiful girl was born,
which was the mode of returning thanks to
Venus. Thus, speaking of beautiful
woman, the poet said: "The lover had
sneezed at her birth" The sweet little
poem of Acme and Septimellus expresses
the idea beautifully:
Acme then her head rejecting,
Kissed her sweet youths ebriate eyes,
With her rosy lips connecting
Looks that glistened with replies.
"Thus my life, my Septimelius
Serve me; Love, our only master m st,a;;, nsn
'Throbs it not in me the faster?'
She said And, as before,
Love on the left hand aptly sneezed-
The omen showed that he was pleased
To give his blessing.
The doctors, unwilling that effort, spas
modic or otherwise, connected with the
human body, should be monopolized by
common folks, consider sneezing as dis
ease or a symptom accompanying certain
ailments. 1t is associated with whooping-
cough, the bugbear of childhood, asthma,
and the gout. 1t is not unfrequently a
symtom Of hysteria All agree that sneez-
ing is caused by some slight impression on
the fifth nerve. A catarrhal condition of
the mucous membrane is most common.
Sneezing may be called the foster-brother
of the hay-fever. The medical men treat
sneezing by strong impression on the fifth
nerve, mustard poultice to the back of
the neck, or an emetic. Sometimes creosote
and iodine vapors are given, and dipping
the head in cold water is zealously prescrib-
ed by old women. Religious opposition to
the custom of saluting people when they
sneezed arose among the Anabaptists in
the beginning of the last century They
declared it was pagan custom and would
have none of it among the faithful, yet a
few years before that good and quaint old
man Montaigne declared, ''Let us give an
honest welcome to this sort of wind, for it
comes from the head and is blameless. !"
Tradition has it when Caesar was on the
brink of the Rubicon he sneezed, and, re-
garding it as favorable omen, crossed it,
and the conquest of Gaul followed. Those
who have read Xenophon's Memorabilia of
the career and habits of Socrates remem-
Der that he claimed that he was infested
with demon, or spirit, to whom he owed
all his wisdom Now, Plutarch says that
the demon always sent him characteristic
warnings by means of sneezes.