Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-10
A CURIOUS NEW WORK.
How Men Walk with . View to Good
Luck.


How Men Walk with . View to Good
Luck.
From the Chicago Daily News.
An interesting little brochure Il that entitled
''The Feet as Mascots." This charming essay
q from the ingenious pen Of the Hon. Thomas
NJ Bowen, United States Senator from colora-
do It is printed for private circulation only
by the Rocky Mountain Nesns Publishing Com
pany, and but 100 copies are issued.
This work belongs to q distinct and delight
full class Of literature line of books ever well
come to the lover of curious things. We call
this class the fad or cranky class. The work OF
the intelligent and coherent crank is invariably
charming, its earnestness and enthusiasm more
than compromising the reader for the absence
OF other qualities which are deemed essential
to the conventional book. DR.. Macnish has
left two delightful fad" works; they are really
little classics; One is the "Anatp%y Of
ply of Sleep" In ITO there appeared an in
genious little book entitled ''Ebrietetis Enco-
MUM; or, Praise Of Drunkenness" wherein Is
set forth the necessity and benefit Of frequently
getting drunk, and this book Is filed with
nightly engaging. Another doctor one Wadd,
has written scholarly essay on .Corpulency
and Leanness," and this is we think, another
OF the modern classics. Walton's "Angler" is,
perhaps, the most famous Of the fad class.
whist, Poem in Twelve Cantos," The Art
Thoughts on Laughter" Dreams" Benefits
Of Early Rising" evils Of Sabbath Break
ng',-these are some Of the interesting little
fad books which we recall at this moment. In
the Thoughts on Laughter" Uondon, 1S90,)
we remember to have found this interesting
incident: "A large crowd Of people were boot
ing and laughing at a man who had done some
act with which they were displeased-'Nay,'
said an aged woman, he is somebody's BARN."
We have wondered whether it might not be q
somebody's Mother" caught suggestion.
Senator Bowen, the author of 1.-The Feet as
Mascots," is clearly believer in mascots and
hoodoos. Before he went into the United
States Senate he was a famous card player; his
exploits at poker are still narrated in Colorado
with exceeding gusto But since his election
to the Senate Bowen has utterly eschewed
cards; his avocations have been scrupulously
above suspicion-he has been awfully respecta-
BILE. Still, gambling is SO subtle and SO malig-
nant an element that when once it has taken
hold upon man its superstitiOns and poisons
forever thereafter lurk in his system, II truly
they do not rampantly and completely sway
that man to their grOtesque plaisaunce. There
fore can we readily see how that Senator Bowen.
having abandoned the practice Of card playing,
should yet retain all the superstitions, humors
and WITNESSES Of the card player; in fact that
he has retained them appears by this little
work Of his now before US. It is clear that the
superstitions with which he became imbued
before his laudable reformation have demanded
Indulgence; that indulgence has been accorded,
but In Il healthy, ingenious and felicitous di-
rection.
Senator Bowen says that for the last five
years he has lived at the Riggs House in WASH
ington, and that it has been his practice to sit
for hours at time each day watching the men
pacing up and down the Office of that hotel
DAY ia IF pr1i-
nary composition thing Of checkerboard de-
sign. The Senator noticed that quite a num-
Der Of men invariably exercised method in
walking upon this thing, and presently he be-
gan to suspect there must be reason for it,
and he set about finding out what it was. He
learned by observation and upon inquiry that
mans luck for the day was determined
by the way in which he placed his feet
upon that thing. Mr.. Riggs, the WASH
lngton banker confessed that whenever he
pwalked upon a tiled floor he was particular
never to step upon one of the dark tiles; he was
satisfied that the dark tiles BODIED misfortune.
The venerable W. w. Corcoran. whose philan-
thropies are well remembered, had and in
dulged the same superstition. In his art gal
lery he had floors of inlaid wood, and it was his
custom, when showing visitors or friends about
the place, to pursue regular lines along the
floor, it being his conviction that deviation
from those lines would assure him evil. This
conviction was confirmed one day many years
ago when, forgetting himself and stepping to
one side to address lady, he stumbled and fell.
receiving an injury that troubled him to the
end of his life
Senator Bowen gives a long list Of the names
OF prominent men and women who believe that
their temporal affairs are controlled largely by
the method with which they walk OF this
number are Senators Edmunds, Ingalls,, Kenna
Hoar, Hampton Beck and Hearst, Congressman
Reed, Cox, Mason, Holman and Cummings. VIM.
Il: Morrison, Winnie Ream, Mrs. J. G. Carlisle,
Librarian Spofford. Gen. Sherman Daniel La
mont, DIR. Bradford, Mrs. Folsom. the British
Minister West, Chang Yen Hoon, and Mrs. Lo-
gan. Senator Beck believes in hoodoos Of every
kind, and, SO, in fact, do most Of the Senators
and Congressman from the Southern States.
Senator Hoar, who has some of the old Mather
blood in his VEINS believes in witches and in
the personality of the devil. In the course of
his essay Senator Bowen tells many amusing
stories of the superstitiOns INDUCED in by the
famous people whom he has met.
But the most curious part Of the work is that
in which the author lays down certain specific
rules, the strict observance of which. he says,
will surely bring man good luck. There are
diagrams illustrating the text, and this is a fac
smile of one Of these diagrams: