Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-06-14

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YAZ AA gentleman few
HASE NGSA evenings ago, re-
/JINxSS1 calls circum-
MG1ssxGa stance to my mind
N1yE0NS which I have
never forgotten.
JxE was crossing
the Atlantic on trip to England some
ten years ago, and as usual on such voy-
ages many acquaintance were made and
friendships formed. In the party to
which gravitated was the manager of a
large fire and marine insurance company
Of San Francisco, a Young Engllshman
upon whom fortune had not smiled to any
brilliant degree and young actress,
whose name has since become famous on
both sides of the water. The insurance
man was whole-sOuled fellow, always
cheerful and with an ever ready sympa-
thy for all in distress or affection. The
young Englishman, too, was Jolly
young man withal. although somewhat
soured on account OF his mishaps in the
West. One evening while enjoying our
post prandial cigars, the conversation
drifted upon success and non-success in
! life, aad the Britain remarked that moth
ing he had ever engaged in had sue
ceded. He believed that he, himself,
was veritable "hoodOo," and such he
would remain through life.
Il think need a mascot" said he, land
then perhaps l will have better luck"
The insurance man wore upon his finger
a magnificent ring set with a peculiar In
dia stone. 1t was massive, and peculiarly
engraved, and was especially conspicuous
by reason of its size and curious work
manship. Taking it from his finger, he
said to the young fellow, here, take this
and wear it as a gift from me, and your
| luck will change The young man, after
some hesitancy, accepted it. Our fair fell
| low passenger admired ii duly, and de-
clared il enchanting Soon after we ar
rived at Liverpool and went our several
ways. | thought nothing more OF the
circumstance on board the steamship
until some years after, when | again met
| the Englshman. | naturally enquired as
| to his mascot, and he told me that ever
since the time we had met on the ocean
/ and he had received the ring, he had pros
pered beyond all expectations.
Shortly after business called me to San
Francisco, and among the first p. ople
met with. with whom | was acquainted,
was my old friend, the insurance man.
After mutual greetings were exchanged, |
asked him if he had heard Of our one time
fellow passengers good fortune since We
/ first met crossing the Atlantic some years
before. He had not, but" said he, Il
am not surprised, for since parted with
that ring | have met nothing but re-
verses. Heretofore l have never been
superstitious, but have become so since. 90
Notwithstanding our ciyilisation, we
are all more or less superstitious, would
we but own it. In fact, some of us would
not shake off some of the dear old super
stitions which environ and lend a sort of
mysterious awe to incidents and phases
of our lives, if we could.
The derivation of some words now in
common use, is exceedingly interesting.
A good many are suggestive of their
origin, while others are not. 1t may not
be uninteresting to give a few examples,
their source, and the uses, base and
otherwise to which they have come.
That useful household article the
"thimble," was originally "thumb-bell,' s.
the thimble formerly having been worn
on the thumb. Slav, a name applied to
people who originally occupied the
the country between the rivers Save and
brave, in RuSSia,is not the slave of
old etymOlogistS, but in reality a per-
son Of noble lineage. An "earl" was an
elder in primitive society, while pope
is the same as papa Gar and
kaiser" are both Caesars, Rotten
Row, the famous London street, got its
name by being called Ia route du roi.''
or in Engligh the kings passage way
A william" before the stigma of disgrace
was attached to him, was simply a laborer
on the villa, or farm, of Roman
country gentleman. The Romans
after the conquest Of England, established
villas there, and so the word crept into
the English language. So "lord" is the
old Anglo Saxon "hlaford, =" which means
, loaf distributor" while the Latin term
for lord is Dominus, from which we get
dominic" the old name for preacher
"Hussy," once meant a respectable
} housewife; a "knave" was simply a
> boy" while the familiar expletive Jim.
r miny," is "reminiscences of the classical
} adjuration, 80 Gemini," used by the Ro-
, mans when they called upon the twins
? Castor and PolluX, to help them.
Douglas Jerrold, the famous wit, /,
, said to have coined the word "jmminy g
A friend told him he could not make a pur
on the names of any of the signs of the
p zodiac and Jerrold Immediately retorted
by iimminy (GemiED, l can, sir, (Can.