The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-06
THE sUPERSTITIONs.
MOST PERSONS CHERISH A SECRET
BELIEF IN SOME OMEN.


BELIEF IN SOME OMEN.
There Arc Not Many Who Will Admit It,
but Probably All Men Arc to Some Ex-
tent Believers In Signs, Though They
Fail In n Majority of Cases.
Every una being has his pct supersti-
tiop. 1t camo to him almost in tho cradle
and has remained with him, by o strange
portinacity, all his lifc. NJ is too proud
to admit n governing influence Which has
no real foundation and must fall to pieces
when Its stability Is tested, but no matter
how silly a superstition may DO, once i'm
bedded In memory by a single instance
when it came true, oil it's signal failures
will generally fail to loosen its grip upon
the human being who has been taught it
In childhood. A pot superstition will lose
not n Jot Of its influence should 1t fail CIV
cry time i'll u hundred, provided it proves
true In ono instance only. This fact shows
how men arc Joined to their suporstitious
idols.
"Sing before breakfast, cry before
night, is tho most ridiculous of oil old
bogios and tho most destructive of mirth,
laughter II happiness. 1t is not difficult
to provo its fallacy. Let evcry man, wo1n-
IN and child stand up against it, sing,
howl, If they cannot give forth melodious
sounds, laugh merrily and rejoice at tho
coming of day, like tho birds, whose first
thought upon waking ON tho appearance
of tho first streak of dawn is to sing hap
PLY with puro joy for tho return of anoth-
or day. Let each be rs happy MS tho birds
and mako everybody else happy, and thus
will this dotcstiblo superstition retro to
fhn fInF,ttt - IT, s1 -.l H. -
no moro.
There is IN old superstition that tho loft
limbs should always DO dressed first, but
not completely ut ono time. Suppose that
tho man who mnnifcsts his Indignation Mt
the assertion that ho is superstitious COM
mcnccs, cautiously, as it were, without
letting himself know that he is being
watched, with tho first garment no puts
on III tho morning and learn what is the
result. How surprised he will bo to know,
perhaps for the first time, that his left arm
goes into his shirt first, his loft log in his
trousers first and his loft sock on his left
foot first, to say nothing of continuing tho
observation MS far MS the shoe. There arc
men who will change q garment which
has been put on unconsciously inside out,
but there arc many mon who will not, for
their lives, risk tho old superstition con-
corning such an not. Kings have not dared
1t.
Whoro is the man or boy who, saving
only in n spirit of bravado, will knowing
ly walk under u ladder? Even if done in
q spirit of defiance of tho old bogic, how
expcctantly and sometimes trcmblingly he
awaits tho coming of tho ponaltyl Try it,
man, and If tho penalty of sorrow or loss,
disappointment or accident, docs not re-
suit before tho day has swept by you will
not tell of it. If it comes to YOU, the rulo
will be followed, IL you will mover cease
telling of 1t, this rare occurrence.
When u man returns to tho house after
once starting out, having perhaps forgot
ten to kiss his wife, or something loss i'm
portant, his natural inclination, without
special prompting, is to sit down before
starting again. 1t is said to be bad luck
to omit this.
Even death may result If q human being
should raise an open umbrella over his
head within doors, it is said. Umbrella
makers n boen known to observe this
rcligiously.
People who 1.-Two in tho country must DO
careful not to have around their homes n
white noscd COW, for should tho window
BIO opon and this COW with tho white pro-
boscis reach 1t over tho window sill in
search of information or something dainty
N'NAS wa ~ u Ntsitii III tIIO l. DtlOEO
long. So says tho old SAW.
Why must We give n penny for any
sharp instrument presented by q friendP
Why do We seek IL o Il loavcd clover, and
why must wo pick up n dirty horseshoe
from tho street whoncvcr we 500 IL there?
Why do mon nail tho horseshoe over their
doors and ends down, too, invariably,
when tho original superstition, of which
they seem to DO in ignorance, asserts that
it should bc nailed up tho other why, so rs
to catch within its embrace tho luck which
dcsconds?
Thoro is no longer any use of talking
about the old bogio concerning ono Of 10
sitting ut table dying within a year after
tho feast. for the Thirteen club exploded
that foolish old saw by sitting thus month
in and month out many years, many ia
bios with 10 at cnch, and all lived out tho
dangerous year and moro years added, but
there are still living mon who will not
undertake. n journey on Is Friday, al
though, after coming to sun tho matter
up, multitudes of mon have discovered
that Friday, Of all days in tho week, is tho
most fortunate day for everything. And
1t is rarely, now, that n criminal Is exc
cuted on Friday in any part of tho world,
thanks to that Same Thirteen club, who
laugh at superstition, knife and fork in
hand. Yet there is not ono of them who
has not his pet superstition, either con-
sciously or otherwise. The biggest man in
tho club carries n horse chestnut in his
pocket to ward off rheumatism, and nm
other is q s~piritualist. They all put on
the left sock first, and few of them daro
sing before breakfast. But thoy nro de-
serving of great praise for what they have
done and must not weary in we'll doing.
Whom q valuable vase in tho Tuileries