The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1893-11-17
EVERYBODY rlNako WITH n.
4 Curious Think About the Prevalence 81
SupeFgtitious Rnla.4

4 cdfiods Thing Xb8at tn. ptav.r.ns. ~
superstitious Belief.
A United States senator is reported
70 have said, a few months tefor. he
died, that he was not superstitious, but
that he believed that his life was in
some mysterious way bound up with
that of a certain pine tree in his door
yard This statement manifestly is as
consistent with itself as If one were to
say; II am not afraid of ghosts, but I
Tear them greatly" The report goes
On to say that last simmer the fatal
pine tree began to wit1ier, and few
Weeks before the death Of the senator
1t died Accepting the report as pub
llshed, the event evidently just fed the
senator's forebodings, and we need not
doubt that there existed in some deg ee
casual connection between the death
OF the tree and that of the man. But
OF course the only possible ope, alton of
TINS cause was through the Imagination
CT the man. Having in some way con-
eeived the absurd fancy that the trees
life was bodnd tip with his own, he
must naturally have watched the with
ering of the tree with apprehension,
and the gloomy forebodings thus
aroused may very probably have been
actively influential in turning the scale
against heart already weakened by
disease. In a sense, it was superstition
that killed him.
OF course this report, as instanced,
may not be true; but whether true or
false, it serves equally well to point
morals for if not true as an individual
belief, it may fairly stand as repre-
sentative of the saperstitious beliefs Of
| large percentage of the cultivated
people of to-day. We talk of supersti-
ton as thing of the past, but in point
of fact it would be hard to find an in
dividual who has altogether banished
it from his daily life. One man be-
lieves in lucky or unlucky days, and is
directly Influenced in his everyday &C
lions by this belief. Another is down.
cast if he has seen the new moon over
his left shoulder. A third will not pass
pin on the street without STOPPING to
pick it up, or is greatly annoyed if a
wayfarer chances to pass between him
self and a companion with whom he is
walking. And SO on throughout the
absurd and wearisome list Certain
classes of people-notably gamblers,
spectators and actors-seem peculiarly
under the spell of superstitious ideas,
but it is hard to find person in any
calling who down in his heart does not
cherish at least one eccentric little idea
which, if analysed, must be confessed
to be pure superstition. Even if he
openly tries to root that idea ont of his
mind, very likely it will still cling. A
member of the Thirteen club, who pre-
fers to begin a journey on Friday, may
shudder in spite of himself if he chances
to break mirror. Such little incon-
sistencies are deep-seated. They will
not vanish at the bidding.
The really significant thing, how
ever. is not that superstitions still
cling, but that they have been so near.
ly banished. The relatively few that
remain are mere "reminiscences of the
times not far gone when superstition
was rampant, and the persons who en-
terrain them realize their absurdity
even while they allow themselves to be
dominated by them. 1t is as hard to
End man who will acknowledge that
he is superstitious as to find one who
really is not superstitious. Even when
confessing ones little within, it is GUS
tomary to disavow it's implications in
the same breath. If A spills the salt
and is detected throwing pinch of it
over his shoulder, he invariably says,
half apologetically: 81 am not super
stitious. but do not like to spill salt
without at once throwing some of it
over my shoulder" The general dis
avowal always precedes the specific adj
mission, regardless of the fact that the
two are utterly inconsistent The act
itself was prima facie evidence of a
deep-seated superstitious belief, which,
however, the intellect repudiates. The
reputation is of more significance than
the reminiscent act. It marks a dis
tinct phase of intellectual evolution.
1t shows our progress toward a stage
of culture that shall fully recognize in
practice, what is already admitted in
theory, that law, not chance, rules the
world.-Harper's Weekly