The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1892-02-18
OF ILL FORTUNE
sUPERsTlTloNs THAT STILL PRE-
VAIL IN MODERN LIFE,

Kyrls BslIs,v and Room IL Sarah
Bernhardt and spilled saIt-south-
erm Men who Imbibs, che Fears OF the
Negro.
Don't put me in that ROOM, young
man, for heavens sakei I'd rather sleep
i'll the cellar or bunk on the roof than go
in No. 10. II you haven't another spare
chamber Illhsve toseek a different hotel.
I'd stay out in the streets all night rather
than tempt fate by going in 49,"
This is what Kyrle Bellew, the Apollo
Htlyidere Of actors, said to the clerk of a
Washington hotel when he played there
With Mrs. James Brown Potter a season
or two ago. Despite the fact that skepti-
ctl individuals here and there show their
Contempt for the superstition by forming
- cluha, which title is obtained from
Il, limitationrof membership to that fig
i 9, the fact remains that a large percen-
lac Of people look on 10 as an exceed
! 3ly ill omened number. Foolish as
$ rah notions are, they are deeply rooted
IN human nature and survive even in this
ace Of general enlightenment from ideas
j al thousands of years ago. The ancient
J {. ptians made a calendar of lucky and
, lucky days, by which, for instance, on
Ii 10Th of the month Athor one must
49, embark on the Nile, while a child
IRON the 9th of the month Paopi will
b killed by a bull,
We have a room, No. 49," said the
chief clerk of one of the best known
litels at the Capital, "and many's tho
kick from superstitious guests that were
afraid to occupy it. It is connected with
0He of the most luxurious and finely fur
I,i.hod suites i'll the house, but that did
u { prevent Sarah Bernhardt from
Ting such a racket that she had to be
en- other quarters. Iguess she is full
Q superstition any way, as one of her
/ nks was loaded with odds and ends Of
{ arms and talismans. One day whilc
: the dinner table somebody spilled the
q, t, whereas Madame Bernhardt turned
lite as q sheet and couldn't finish her
Al. She regarded that as the worst
sible omen, and expressed a fear that
b netting dreadful was going to happen.
Take them all in all, theatrical people
are more deeply imbued with superstition
than any other class of the travelling
bile. / recall the case ola well known
;H.tor whom we put in a room where
tiiere happened to be a slightly cracked
q irror. He refused positively to stay in
il, because it was bad luck, and as The
hotel was crowded nothing could be done
but lave a workman go to the room and
! crt a new glass"
On investigating the reporter learned
that hut few of the obstetrics Of the
Capital have rooms with the unpnpuier
nntiber. A good many of them avoid il
~ tarling on the first floor it'll 100 a"d
, pmbering in regular orier Eum tlr'c.
bat beginning ON the second story " j
910, and so on through the entire buit.-
ing. At the Shoreham o combinations Of
i tiers and numerals is used, rs 4 /. i +.
and G I, denoting apartments on the fir.
Il, or, and AZ, 2, etc.. on the se,ula.
the figure showing the degree of eleya
ton.
Southern men are, l think, more re
81 dful OF signs and spells and lucky aus
unincky omen than those from any
other section" said a gentleman WIN
WIS born on a cotton plantation and
Lnew whereof he spoke.
II attribute it. he continued, "to their
youthful association with the blacks.
They heard from the old uncles and
amties of the family weird stories of
witches and ghosts, and ever after
uiatnrer years proved the absurdity of
tire folk lore of their infancy, it was
lard to shake it completely off"
Ex-senator Reagan, of Texas, a hard
] aled, practical man of the world, got
: it.from an old darkey that it would bring
t, him i'll fortune to put on his left shoe
first, and never once in all the years that
have SPED has he failed to give the right
H. | precedence.
"if the late Henry Grady, the eloqu n,
Georgia orator and brilliant joury.a'a,!,
had ON walking or driving along COZ
try road observed q rabbit cross his IN !.
Ip would not continue his journey f.,
that day. 1t was a sure sign that somc
misfortune was impending, that coult
only be avcrted by retracing his steps anC
taking n fre Ii start on the morrow.
Superstition is widely prcvaleDtamnns
The colored people. Even here in Wa1,
j slon, wler4 they are better cducat,.
;.ld more Intelligent, as a rule, than any
y here else III the United States, yondo ,
: IN and the black art have many dev
Ctees. Tile most common superstition
tinlis diem is the fear of "night do,
/; rs. There are hundreds and hi
,,reds Of Washington negroes wins
wouldn't walk a lonely street after d.
ipf all Tie silver in the Treasury. RI.
n5,er aaw a night doctor, never knew .
any one who has, yet they are coavin
that lie imunts the dim lighted tLorvu1
f5rps and lonely commons OF the city, i
n tent on securing a victim for his au@
dls5, citing knifc.-Washington Post.
H