Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-05-29
MAY DAY SUPERSTlTloNS.
Strange Beliefs of Georgia Colored Pee,
 p1e-Atlanta Street Scene.

MAY DAY SUPERSTITICNS.
 Strange Beliefs of Georgia Colored Pee
 p1e-Atlanta Street Scene.
 May day seems to be day for peculiar superstitions," i" said one of Atlantas charm ing young ladies to reporter. s'Last May day l was passing along Spring street when noticed a crowd of negroes standing around an old we'll As some of them were rushing around the yard in an excited manner, and one woman had her apron up to her face, crying, and 8 man was holding looking glass so as to throw the light into the we'll, naturally supposed that some of the numer- ous plckaninnies had fallen in. Upon investi- gation l found that they were only having a little innocent fun, though they seemed to be enjoying it in very grim sort of way They were using the glass with the firm be- lief that the image they saw reflected would be likeness of their future wife or husband, as the case might be-
 "All seemed to believe implicitly that something strange and supernatural was go- ing to take place, and they worked them selves up to g very high state of excitement. Presently an old woman, regular old crone, exclaimed: Look! lookl I 'clar fo' de Lord I see a oman laid out and two men kneeling on each side of de coffin, and hit looks like my Mandy what died last spring The negroes all seemed awestruck and proceeded to go into mysteries. A mulatto girl next took the glass ard after patient waiting on her part and anxious silence from the others she declared she saw the best looking old gemin she ever sot her eyes on, an he had on a white vest and a blue necktie. She was so entrancedsthat she did not want to give up the glass to the many who now grabbed for it.
 "Well, big, burly man got it. Presently 8 broad grin illuminated the surrounding darkness of his swarthy countenance, and with loud guffaw he declared that he saw 'stripes-broad, black and white stripes-and them's for that nigger Tom, there, what stole dem chickens last night But when they all exclaimed with one voice that what ever was seen that it was meant for the one holding the glass, he turned as pale as he knew how, dropped the glass and hurriedly left the throng who had so adroitly turned the joke on him. ."-Atlanta Constitution.
 Servants in German Families.
 In Germany 1t makes difference to a nobleman whether you own shop or are merely employed in one. In both cases you work, and that Is sufficient The effect of this is that the German shopkeeper and man of middle class does not keep his clerks and servants at half the distance that his American confrere does An Ameri- can shopkeeper lives in fine house and walks about his emporium of fashion" as haugh- tily as 8 czar. If his wife or daughter honor the place at all 1t is when they want 8 new dress or check from papa In France or Germany the same class of shopkeeper lives in the room over his shop, and in all proba- bility has his wife keep his books and his daughter wait at the counter. At night, when the house is put to rights, the house. maid will come into the family sitting room, and while knitting listen to her employer read his papers or chat with the family. She is not kept in back room in the attic nor thrown entirely on her own resources for amusement.
 Hence the Germans and French do not ex- perience that difficulty in securing capable domestic help which most American house wives too oftenencounter. They bring their customs, more or less, to this country; and in American cities the first to get good house servants and the last to lose them are not Aig @aa hY6 1t New 1Ehga a se ahy fa when house girls were not called servants and were not treated as machines out of which was to be gotten all the work possible They used to say 'shelp" in New England, and when the 'help" had finished her duties she not seldom rolled down her sleeves and took her seat at the table along with the fam fly. That custom is no longer in vogue, ex- cept perhaps now and then in the country, or in very small towns, and as result it is now as hard to get house help in New Eng land as in any other part of the country Cor. Washington Post.