Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-01-16
misee!Ianegns.
Superstition.

The tenacity of superstition IS an unac-
countable mental phenomenon. One who
had the pleasure of listening to that fascl-
mating word-picture of achievement in in
yention and art, by Wendell Phillips,
1.-THE Lost Arts may be smitten with
despair at the failure of human intelll-
oence to hold and preserve its richest con-
0uests. In contrast with this failure, the
perpetuation through centuries OF silly
superstitions excites both amazement and
disgust.
It seems vastly easier for human nature
to founder blindly in the misty atmosphere
of traditional absurdity, than to seize and
protect from destruction the valuable
achievements of brain in art and science.
How few people to-day know OF the re-
splendent Tyrian dyes, those rich and
fadeless colors that persisted with entomb-
ed cities. But is there household in
civilization where the spilling of salt fails
to revive the recollection of an oriental
superstitious custom? 1t is too common
an occurrence for an intelligent. weil-bred
woman who chances to upset a salt dish
to rush with pinch of salt to the fire to
cause any surprise. The relation Of burnt
salt to the possible loss of temper, or ir-
ritation that could be subdued by
self-control, has not probably been a
study pursued by the long procession OF
minds who through the centuries have
handed down this superstition. We could
hardly credit, today, the prediction that
the delicate machinery of watch making,
the process of manufacturing steel, or the
seemingly intelligent loom that invokes
to fabric most complicated patterns of
beauty. or the telegraph, might perish
from the knowledge of man, but the SUI
perstiton of good or bad luck from the
angle of first seeing the new moon would
live on and on through centuries, sort of
monthly record of destiny in the minds of
the human family. But just this phenom-
enon has transpired in human history.
Unlucky days are superstitious bugbear
that no enlightenment achieved has power
to erase from common acceptance. Friday
is the unlucky day Of Christendom. Re-
ligion, which should establish and deepen
faith in a perfect order of the universe,
has given birth to this nonsensical repudi-
alton of one seventh portion of time, as
though sun, moon and stars, and the prin
ciple of gravitation, or some unseen and
malign power, had set upon given day
We smile, or wonder, at supersttions
to us. while those that have
been sifted into our minds from earliest
seem natural, and not sur
prising. and if we are not personally sub
ject to their recurrence in thought, or in
fluence upon our action. we at least look
upon them as harmless. A conviction
that bad luck is in our path is not
inspiring to hope or energy. To enjoy
the new moon as an evidence that the uni
verse makes no mistakes, and of the eter-
nal surety of planetary revolution, must
create in man the mental conditions of
success, far more than hope kindled by
the favorable position we may chance to
occupy when we see it over one shoulder
or the other. To be possessed of the idea
that one day out of seven is under ban
weakens the sense of universal order and
stability. 1t would be capricious destiny
that wreaked misfortune on one-seventh
portion of time. What blight would
come if the streams ceased to flow, the
sun to shine. the crops to grow all natures
processes to continue their unvarying ac-
ton. on every seventh day! If this had
ever occurred unlucky days would not be
such distinction of absurdity. Were not
the pagans. who found auguries of sue
cess or defeat in the entrails of birds,
more philosophic and rational than the
Christian people who act upon supersti-
ton that virtually excludes an overrullng
wisdom and order from the universe?
That superstition extended and magnified
supernal modes of directing the actions of
mOrtals.
A belief in unlucky days.to the extent of
changing or deferring our plans and
actions, binders our own proceeding, and
lessons appreciation of perfect, unvarying.
everything order and harmony. But Fri
day is not always an unlucky day. Ac-
cording to one superstition there is magic
in it for human blessing. Try it, all NOR
tails cursed with toothache. The panacea
is harmless. Cut your finger-nails every
Friday, and only on this distinguished
portion of the week. If the disturbers of
your sleep and comfort are thereby Quoted
no harm can come to any one. This
would be as strange remedy as to spit
on ones shoe to stop the bowling of dog.
And if treacherous memory has made it
necessary for you to turn back after start
ing for given point, stop and sit down, if
you choose, to cheat the sprite called "bad
luck" 1t will do no harm unless you
should IN consequence be too late for
railroad train One is often Hurried or
tired from the effort to make ready tor an
outing, and the provocation of a forgotten
article ruffles the temper, perhaps.
To sit down and wait minute may re-
store composure. and with it the mastery
of success, or good luck" further on.
Superstition in that event becomes philos-
ophy.-Lucindd c. Chandler. IN Current