The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-22

Neapolitans to offer the guest any
thing that he may praise has pro-
badly the same origin. 1t is, OF course,
now to q very large extent only q form
OF courtesy; but vel now announcer
feeling turks behind, at least IN a
good many cases. Your host mas
been delighted by your admiration OF
his possessions; he would have been
disappointed If it had not been SO
warmly expressed as it was; but sIlH
he is a little afraid of the Ill luck the
kind things you have said may bring.
By offering the objects you have
liked best to. you, and receiving your
certain refusal to accept them, ne
puts them in a bad light and thus
counteracts the evil effects OF your
praise. He says to fate:-Iou see
their value is not great after all.
This superstition, however, Is py nc
means confined to Naples or Italy u
is said to be common in CHINA n
Japan and among negroes ana req
Indians. Even in England it is not
unknown.
In fact in all the countries. when
visiting a sick acquaintance, it is
little better to say, Il am glad to hear
you are a little better today" than =
am glad to see you looking SO much
better" Nor, is the belief by any
means confined to the lower classes.
A person who is highly educated, very
intelligent, and by no means preJu-
diced in religious matters, was once
asked whether the words acted as an
evil charm or whether they merely
foretold evil. The reply vast
don't know; but | do know from ex-
perience that whenever anybody tells
me l AIN looking well | fall i'll within
three days; and the more intimate |
am with the person that says 1T the
worse the illness isl There may be a
connection between this superstition
and that of the evil eye-we are in
clined to think there is-butthe must
not be COMPOUNDED, as me is often
found in districts where the other is
MISUNDERSTANDING ReUieao.
Thackeray's Two Dragons.
Thackeray was a victim of the dis
tressing habit of procrastination. He
was always behind hand with his
work, and always haunted by the
spectre of some unfinished task. One
of his charming little sketches repre-
sents him endeayoring to escape from
Ills IOOil. WlllIc d. DtllltCl IVY ASesAo
against the door to keep him in.
He recognized his fault, and often
bemoaned it.
One day he was visiting the studio
of Baron Marochetti with Bayard
Taylor, when their host took down a
small engraving from the wall and
presented it TO him. The subject was
est. George and the Dragon
Thackeray inspected it with great
delight for a few minutes, until sud-
denly becoming grave, he turned to
Taylor and said:-
Il shall hang it near the head OF my
bed, where ] can see it every morning.
We all have our dragons to fight. DO
you know yours? l know mine. |
have not one, but two"
What are they?n Taylor asked.
''Indolence and luxury"
II could not help smiling says
Taylor, ''as | thought of the pro-
digious amount of literary labor he
had performed, and at the same time
remembered the simple comfort OF his
dwelling next door,"
II am serious Thackeray con-
tinued. II never take up the pen
without an effort; / work only from
necessity. / never walk out without
seeing some pretty, useless thing /
want to buy. Sometimes | pass the
same shop window every day for
months and resist the temptation,
and think I'm safe; then comes the
day of weakness, and | yield. | shall
look at this picture and think
of my dragons, though / never
expect to overcome them.n
Miserable as he made himself with
self reproaches, however, he left be-
hind him a priceless addition to the
library of English literature, in the
group of novels which teach us to be
gentle and ~forbearing, to despise pet
tiness of spirit, and to exalt all that is
pure and unselfish. - Youths Com
pG1adon.
rI.n YrnadnIantr nnr -L--