Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-10-05
Snnarstitfons


From the New York Graphic.
In an uptown Office group ofmen
got to talking about superstitions.
One gentleman, who had listened
quietly while his companions de-
nounced various fanciful ideas as
utterly absurd, - cold wOmen's
whims, ''stuff and nonsense" &C.,
remarked gu ietIy:
"YOu may ridicule superstition as
you viii, but it is my honest opinion
that not one person in a thousand is
utterly free from it's faint. You
may say and think you are,
but you are mistaken. Look
around among your friends
and intimate acquaintance and see
if you can discover one Of them who
is not Influenced to some degree by
some Of those odd notions and ideas
that you laugh at and pronounce
absurds. How many of you would
not prefer TO have the signs with you
rather than against you? Now, I
don't claim to be free from supersti-
ton. l might be induced to enter
upon some important undertaking
on Friday, for instance; yet it would
be far more satisfactory to me if
could begin on some other day of the
week. L can reason that one day is
as good as another, but there's that
old and universal prejudice against
Friday, and L can't help thinking of
it.
''There are things one learns when
a child which it is impossible to
shake of In later years. Now, as an
illustration, when I was six or seven
years old heard one of my aunts-
q lady in whom I had the utmost
confidence and whose word neither l
nor any one else ever dOubted-I
heard her say that if a person cut his
finger nails on Sunday some bad luck
would be sure to come to him before
the week ended. She believed it, and
1 believed it then, though of course
the whole idea seems absurd now.
Yet her words so impressed me
that l have never yet cut nv
nails on the first day of the week,
and probably l never will. I believe
you will find that almost every man
is a crank as regards some OF these
-Al4N4CL1J OClLHlO4lSs anu NOulCl dIG
as a general thing even more prone
to pin their faith to signs and Omens
than men. Did you ever hear a girl
tell dream without finally asking, /
What is that a sign OFF [ know
very accomplished, sensible, refined
lady, who laughs herself at some of
the odd notions which she picked up
in childhood and cannot get rid Of /
II she should spill salt on the table
and omit to scrape up a pinch and
throw it in the fire I am confident
that she would feel fOreDOdings of
bad luck.
'"Then there are the old supersti- !
tiOns about mirrors. Nobody likes |
to break one; nobody would, even if /
they cost nothing. There is an old /
saying that if any two persons see
their reflections in the glass at the /
same time the younger will die before /
the year is out. Many awOmen, who /
knows that the idea is a humbug, |
wouldn't risk making the experiment.. !
'And when YOU come to remedies /
for diseases, why then you can find /
superstitiOns enough to fill volumes.
Some of the old WOmen's perscrip- /
lions may be quite as effectual at /
times as the regular physicians, but /
that is neither for nor against them. |
Who hasn't heard how to cure warts
by rubbing peas over them, then |
throwing the peas away? Among /.
the strange cures in which have /
known otherwise sensible people to /
believe fully, were such as these: /
Pare your finger nails and tOenails. |
cut Offa lock of your hair and wrap /
the pieces all up together; then bore /
q hole in q tree, push in the hair and /
nails and drive a tightly fitting plug .
in the hole; as long as the tree stands .
and continues alive you will never be /
afflicted with tOOthache! IfyOu have /
a sore throat, wear a red wooden /
string around your neck. If YOU |
want to prevent rheumatism, carry /
a piece Of sulphur or a buckeye nut F..
IN your pocket. You may say that |
only foolish people can believe in !
such unreasonable things; but very f.
likely if you think over some of your /
own beliefs you may come across
something quite as absurd"
The Minister Thanked Heaven.