Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-10
VARIOUS OLD SAYINGS.
Absurd Old Saws That We're Once B'
iieved by Good People.

Absurd Old Saws That Were Once Be-
Iieved by Good People.
We are apt to regard various old saws that
have heen preserved to us as the epitome of
the wisdom of old observers, and possibly Of
some value for that reason, as the old OBJ
server had so little to distract attention and
thought that his or her observation was
likely to be closer and of more worth than
the generalization of today, when people are
skipping from point to point and, like roll
ing stones, staying nowhere long enough to
gather any moss But how many of these
old saws and dicta are painfully absurd on
their face, almost cruel to recall, when we
remember that there were people who had
no recourse but to believe in them; people,
too, who could hardly be blamed in their
day for any sort of belief, while both St
Augustine and Melancthon had belief in
the existence and horrors of the wehr wolf.
Among these legends are a huge mass of
instructions as to which day of the week, for
ins. ance, is the best one for cutting the hair
and trimming the nails; rules, to be sure,
that are observed by people Of more or less
intellect and good breeding today, not they
will tell you that they really believe in them,
but that in case the instructions might be
true, they prefer to be on the safe side and
escape the penalties Instructions also
abound as to the fit day for engaging ser
wants, for starting on journeys, for buying
houses, building and other matters. Accord
ing to these old dicta, if one pnts out Of bed
| in the morning the left foot first, nothing
could go right for the rest of the day. II one
did not want ghosts to visit the bedside at
night, one must not put the heels of ones shoes
toward the bed in taking them off In the
| same room with a newborn child fire must
| be kept burning, to ward off the evil spirits
that might make a changelng Of it; the
| child must never be taken down stairs before
1t has been taken up stairs, lest it should
never rise in the world; it must not be shown
| itself in the glass before it is three months
| DID, or it will die; it must not have its little
! nails cut in that time, or it will prove liar;
il its mother touches blade or az or scissors
I on the day Of its christening it will meet its
death by some sharp instrument; if the sign
| of the cross be not made over the baby's
mouth when it yawns the devil will enter in
at it.
To whip child on Sunday is to ruin it:
but to whip it on a Good Friday is to make
it well behaved all the rest of its life. Nor,
according to these words of wisdom can a
child he allowed to walk backward, for the
child who walks backward drives its parents
by just so many steps toward the bottomless
pit; nor may you allow child to read and
eat at the same time, unless you are willing
to ruin its memory Other matters, too
come under the jurisdiction of these ancient
prohibitions. The wedding ring should moi
be too small, unless one wishes for misfort
une. OF the bridal pair the one who frs
kneels in prayer, or flrst rises from prayer
is the one who first dies. These and {
thousand others like them are the rem
nants Of former days, and we can wei
congratulate ourselves that we have escapec
from the prison walls Of reliance on sucl
notions and can afford to laugh at our falleI
fetters.-Harper's Bazar.