The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-09-28
About Hands.

About Hands,
'Please, Uncle Jack, what Is that
Corp asked Peter, picking up an add
locking little ornament at pink eerai,
q shaped very maea like three ein5
fingers.
"0h, that" said Uncle Jeet5, surnipa
tho little trtfle over ind cmilipo.. SIS
what auporatitious tscoole IN Naples
wear to ward off si,e evil Influences Of
any one they suapoeS OF vitchcras.1.
Sometimes, If yoa happened 20 li7o Or
be visiting in Naples, goa would rec
people do this, put The tnulna in tho
middle of their hand, fold Sno second
and third fingor over t, end With tho
first and fourth fingers, hold ssrairaS
like horns, point toward anyone they
believe possessed Of an evil oJc. It
is one of the many ancient eigno OF
the hand"
What signs?" said Pctor, who
dearly loved to ask questions.
why, don't you know replied his
uncle, taking Peters hand in his,
h nearly every gesture you make
with your hands has come down from
the most ancient of times? For in
stance, when you shook hands with
Mrs. Brown, who just went out, you
followed one of the oldest of customs
that began in the days when men
shook hands to nrove that they meant
no harm to each other and carried no
weapons. When you lean out of the
carriage window and kiss your hand
to your mother on the doorstep, you
are following an old habit of the
Persian sun worshipnrs, who first laid
their hands on their mouths, and then
lifted them toward the sun.
Nowadays in England those who
are presented to the queen kiss her
hand, which is a token of reverence
and submission, as old as the days of
tho Trojan war, when King Priam
kissed Achilles hand as he asked for
the body of his bravo dead son, Hec-
tor. Julius Caesar, the great con-
queror, never permitted the common
folk to kiss his hand, but in his pres
nee they kissed their own hands. In
Morocco no one in the presence of the
emperor mentions the number five,
because it represents the hand that
holds the scepter and power. The
Turks call the hand an emblem of the
creator. The fourteen knuckles repre-
sent the beads of their rosary and the
five fingers their five great rules for
religious life.
"Among the early Christians the
thumb, first and second finger were
thought to signify God, his Son, and
the Holy Ghost, and that is why those
three fingers are held up when priests
in the Catholic church give what is
called an episcopal blessing. Long
ago, in marriages, the ring was in
turn slipped over the thumb, first and
second fingers. and finally left on
the third, to show that a man gave
his allegiance first to the Holy Trinity
and lastly to his wife. 1t was then
that people believed the third finger
vas possessed of unusual virtues be-
cause a rich, pure vein of blood ran
from its bottom knuckle to the heart.
Il was made the ring finger for that
reason, and in time Of plaques doctors
mixed their drugs with it, thinking
it the only finger free from faint.
''In these later days it has been
found out that there is no vein run
ming, as was believed, but it remains
the marriage finger by custom. Per-
haps one of the strangest supersti-
tions about hands is that a century
ago it was believed the hand of a man
who had been hanged would cure
warts if touched by an afflicted per-
son, and that the hand of a man dead
on the gallows would open the strong
est lock if merely touched to the key
hole, moving the bolts without a
sound, and housebreakers were sup
posed to carry such a hand among
their tools"
And here Uncle Jack hurried out of
the room, leaving Peter still gazing
at his own hard. brown little hand,
that never before had seemed so in
teresting in his own eyes.-Chicago
1nter-Ocean.
The Proud booster.
There was once a proud rooster. He