The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-12-25


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A----
A HoRs1sHox ToR LUCK.
81 declare If there amt q horseshoe il
the sheet, and l am going to pick it up. y
said young lady to the Herald report
err. as they were walking along Adams
street the other day; and, suiting the
act on to the word the maiden pounced
upon the prize and landed it safely on
the sidewalk.
"And what do you expect to do with
it?" asked the reporter. looking
nskance at the rather worn iron semi.
circle.
'.Do with it? I shall take it home
and hang it on the door-peihaps I will
gilJ it. Don't you know it is lucky ia
find a horseshoe? Thought everybody
knew that" and she threw back her
head and stepped out as II she already
had the purse Of Fortunatus in her
pocket.
The young lady carried her horse
shoe lrne, but with what fortune to
her time has yet to tell. It is good
old superstition. and we come legiti-
mately by it ..AIay the horseshoe
never he pulled from thy thrcsh-
old" is friendly wish more than three
hundred years cd 1t dates back to
the time of witches and witchcraft. To
find horseshoe and hang it behind the
house door was considered to bring
good luck to the household and protec-
ton from w.tchcraft or evil eye. In
HLdibras, the conjuror could
"Clmse evil spirits away BY dint
OF sickle. horseshoe hollow flint"
An old writer saws the houses in Lon.
don were protected against witchcraft
by horseshocs nailed over the door, and
he adds that to be efficacious the shoe
must be an old one. and accidentally
picked up by its posse sor. One of the
commOncst sights in the rural districts
of this country. particularly in the older
States. is horseshoe nailed over the
barn or stable door. This is to keep
away the witches, whose great delight
it is TO knO. up the names of the horses.
If Hecate AMI her sister hays still ride
on the midnight air they carefully avoid
all la, es MAJ ked by the horseshoe. In
deed, it may be that it has so discour-
aged their midnight prauks that they
have left us entirely. Certain it is that
it is great while since they have been
automatically seen Tam O'Shanter
was one of the last witnesses we know
of. Lord Nelson was great believer
in the horseshoe as a lucky omen. and
one was nailed to the mast of his IA
nous ship Victory. Harriet Mellon, the
actress. who married the great banker
Cout:s, grandfather of the Baron
ess Burdett-C outts, and after his death
married the Duke of ST. Adams, pinned
her faith upon the horseshoe, and
had two of them nailed on the
outer gate of Holly Lodge, her country
seat. If horseshoe could bring good
luck it certainly did to her A poverty
stricken Irish girl. her childhood was
passed in wretchedness and misery,
which some years life as strolling act
ress did not much alleviate. Whether
she found her horseshoe during this
period her veracious biographer does
not disclose. but she finally obtained an
engagement at Drury Lane. and short
ly after drew a prize in a lottery. Then
followed her acquaintance with the
great banker. aad fortune smiled on
her for the remainder of her life. She
was not great actress, nor a woman
of extraordinary beauty, but she was
the luckiest of all the actresses ever
raised to the English peerage.
DR.. James, of London, many wears
ago invented 4 fever powder. He was
very poor, and desired to get q promi-
nent chemist named Newberry to sell
the powder for him In going 70 New
berrys house one morning DR.. James
found horseshoe, which he picked up
and put in his pocket. Newberry be-
came his agent for the sale of the pow
der. and DR.. James made an immense
fortune. He sscribed all his success to
the horseshoe. which he subsequently
adopted as the crest on his carriage.
The poet Gay. in his fable OF The
Old Woman and Her Cats" makes the
supposed witch complain:
. straws laid across my path rctard;
Tie horseehoe's nailed, each thresholds
guard"
In the large beer shops of London
horscshoes may be seen, and there has
been considerable discussion among be-
levers 8 to whether the horseshoe was
most effective nailed behind the door or
upon the first step Of the door. Both
positions have their advocates, and In
stances of extraordinary luck recounted
q having attended them.
Some Of the largest stores in Chicago
have . horseshoe prominently visible
over door or window, and there are
probably few families who have not at
one time OF another placed considerable
con6dence q source Of good fortune
in this peculiar piece of iron. As q
Nharx, and m a scsY-f.vsiu tho min lie f,,v,o