The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-10-04
HER SUPERSTITIONS.
THE NEW WOMAN HAS THEM DE-
SPITE HER ADVANCE.

| Old Fashioned Beliefs That Have Not Eeen
| Overthrow by the Opening Of New Ave.
uues--Thin-s to Do or Not to Do II You
| Want 20 Have Good Luck.
Tho now woman believes in the extern.
sion of suffrage to hor sex, in discussing
NIL social problems, in canceling tho word
'obey'' from tho marriage service, In
boomers and in just as many supersti-
tons us even her great great-grandmother
adhered to. The very newest woman will
hop off her bicycle in muddy road, drag
an old horseshoe out of the mire carry it
home in triumph and attribute her next
piece Of good luck to that nasty piece OF
iron, because every one of her sex, by
habit or natural inclination end in spite
of her higher education, continues to be-
lieve in signs and omens.
'.Its good luck to pick up pin only
when you SEQ ono in getting out of bed,"
said bespectaclcd Vassar graduate grave
~ the other day, "but one must pick up
all the pins ones sees i'll the course of a
day, else one will BIO cheated or lose bit
of money before nightfall It's good luck
when the cracking sparks from a wood
0re spring toward you, and when the palm
OF your hand itohes rub it with tho rough
receive money to add to that piece. If you
dream three times in succession of birds,
you will fall heir to fortune within the
year, and something agreeable will occur
in ID hours If you happen unconsoiously
to put on any garment inside out. To ro-
verse tho garment changes the luck. II
you open book upside down, don't at
tempt to read anything in it or you will
presently ovorbcar something disagreeable
Of yourself. know great many women
who believe that blue eyed people are more
lucky than dark eyed ones, and who only
tell their secrets to gray eyed friends, and
who believe that a woman with q black
mole on her body is bound to come to
tragical end'
My beliefs run to days." frankly adj
mitted another woman. EVERY woman
who entertains is sure there is one day in
the week on which she can have no suo-
cess in any undertaking. Ny bad day is
Thursday, but then know lots of women
who never make any positive engagements
for Saturdays. Saturday is very black
day in society lists, and there are numbers
of otherwise sensible individuals who will
never entertain on the day of the week on
which some member of their family has
died, just as there arc those who, having
once worn u gown to funeral, will
promptly give the whole costume away.
Moreover, some girls, l know feel there
are certain garments in which they always
meet with Ill luck. 1t may be pair of
pretty stockings or gloves or dainty pet
ticoat that shows signs of being hoodooed,
md once the evil genius is accurately fixed
on tho accursed garment off it goes, and
usually tho possessor burns 1t or gives 1t
to some girl she has grudge against.
cp Is hat ciY
cracked mirror brings wrinkles, and why
have jewelers. never been abJe to make tho
topaz popuare 1t is because the majority
believe that directly you take to wearing
those yellow stones you will have rival.
The old suporstitons about opals arc pass
ing out, but q woman is bound to DO tickle
in her affections if she wears q turquoise.
The signs Of bad luck are tho kind one is
Nix ely to notice most carefully, and no girl
with care for her looks. ever clips her
hair ends on the dark of the moon or in
tho month Of May at all.
cts the worst possible luck to lay an
umbrella on bed or divan, and it is fair
warning of some impending misfortune
when picture seils l really know Of
many cases where dreaming Of water fro
quently has been followed by tho death OF
friends and all women seriously look for
on real graveyard subjects. 1t is recog-
nized to be bad luck to go back on your
footsteps for a thing forgotten, and the
girl who stumbles on her way up stairs
understands that in spite Of leap year her
matrimonial prospects are over for 10
months"
"There is a BALM" said another Vassar
girl, Sin tho midst Of bad luck signals by
which tho ordinary girl wisely tries to
collnteract her promised i'll fortune. That
is by wishing Oh things and turning back
!. the hoodoo. Make a wish when you meet
" person who has one brown and one blue
eye. 1t is sure to bring you good luck.
Wish for health or good weather on a
shooting star and wish on the new moon,
but look at it through somebody's we'd
ding ring"
II was always taught" said Virginia
girl, ''by my negro nanny that no wom-
an would ever grow bald or gray who
kept all her combings and used them to
stuff pinoushions; also that two spoons at
one place at table meant, a proposal Of
marriage in q twelvemontb, that june
and October were tho only positively lucky
months for weddings, and that no sharp
Instrument. as knives or scissors, should
over bo received as friendly gifts, else in
short while some friendship would surely
DC severed. There arc southern brides so
sensitive on this point they won't oven OIL
low knives to be included In their boxes of
table silver or the pretty steel tools to APP
pear in any service Of manicure sets they
receive. All New Orleans girls carry little
images of st. Joseph in their pockets as
charm against spinsterhood, faithfully
wear yellow carriers and refuse to receive
thimbles as gifts. ..1.e
I'm Virginia." sho continued, ''the old
fashioned housewives use lavender in their
| linen TO prevent its wearing out quickly,
though doubt if the dried flowers possess
any such virtue. Southern girls always
read the white spots OIL their finger nails
beginning from tho thumb, "A gift, a
friend, a lover, journey to CO. They
confidently look for the best young man I
to call when by accident a knife, the sois-
sors CT oven o needle sticks up in the
floor, and to break one's string of pearls il
the suro sign of a great illness. A positive
sign Of approaching malady Is to lose .
jewel from its setting. o..
IL at isn't to be supposed, CT course, that
any woman pretends to keep pace with all
those signs and omens, but there are very
few of us who don't cherish IA belief In
half dozen or more. and partly from
habit, partly from genuine fear Of ills to
co,ra yra rafroin frOra Cpoccipo frro,cA