The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-24
SOME CARD sUPERsTITIoNs.
Gamblers believe i'm Them-The earn
BOne-Card Proverbs.


That immortal devotee OF whist. Sarah
Battle. whose wish was for "a clear fire.
clean hearth. and the rigor Of the
game and who emphaticauy observing
mat cards were cards. loved a thorough
paced partner, a determined enemy, we
are told, and neither took nor gave con-
ceSsions, had yet her weak point. "AH
people, says Lamb, have their blind
5lae-tnelr superstitions; and 1 have
hedId her declare, under the rose that
hearts We're her favorite sniff " And In
lhls respect Sarah Battle was a TYNE of
most cara players. Every one has his
pet superstition or his favorfte suit. and
as some one suit. or certain cards thereof
may DE considered especially lucky. so
mere are at least two cards which are
stuefaliy looked at askance as decidedly
uiiiIgA One IS the four OF clubs. known
as the devils bedposts." and the other Is
s so1 I9 our OF hearts which for some rea-
wood in the north OF England
, NO manner of man is more prone to he
IeNe IN luck, or to put his trust In strange
the effects of uulucky Omens and indu-
cnces, than the confirmed gambler and
even the m!ldest player at that form OF
domestic whist dtsrespe ctfuly known as
humble PUPPY where stakes are cOun-
ters representing purely imaginary val
ues-eVen such one is as rule just
as strong a believer In the luck" which
ne tries to prOpitiate, either secretly or
openly, as any professional Barry Lynn
don. The ordinary card player, when
pursued by run of ill-luck, gets up,
makes his chair perform gymnastic gyra-
TONS and sits down again. refreshed and
hopeful, TO pick up the cards of the new
dtai. lie may laugh as he turns the
chalr round, but he does it all the same.
ana entertains. you may be sure, a sneak
ing belief that there is something in it,"
after all.
Card superstitions sometimes take odd
forms. some time ago visitor 10 the
helShborhood OF country town i'm the eas-
Cd
there considered unlucky TO sit opposite
the hinges. locally called the "Ummers"
or the table when playing al cards. OLD
aubrey, the old antiquary, more than 200
years ago noted thai when one had bad
luck at cards II was common for him TO
say that somebody was sitting with his
legs crossed, and had SO brought him i'll
fortune. This was "A revival OF a supersti-
ton which dates back to the days of RO-
man paganism, and may possibly account
lor some OF the contempt so freely and
proVerbially poured out upon tallors who
slt cross-egged at their work
Habltual card players often have resort
TO strange method of propitiating the god
qess Fortune or Luck, wnom they worship.
Du Boisgohey, In one of his sensational
stories. remarks: ''All heavy players be-
neNe IN some kind OF fetch. Some put
Iaith in ring, others I'm the pendants of
a watch chain some will only stake with
their hats on or when chewing a tooth
PICK. others again insist on wearing spec
tacles, although they possess excellent
sight while some before venturing to
enter their club. will walk for hours in the
streets hoping to meet hunchback per-
son and gently touch the hump" Fetch
worship Is by no means confined to Al
RIGA. Burglars have more than once been
found carrying coal i'm their pockets, which
was supposed in some mysterious way to
help them in their nefarious trade, and
many people who have nothing in common
with laWbreakerS save superstition make q
practice Of carrying this or that intrinsi-
cally worthless thing to bring them luck.
Among English card players OF the last
HaF a. D. d ~
that is, the curious feshy palate of the fish
was suppCN ed to be of singular efficacy
in bringing luck at cards. An aristocratic
deVotee OF the green baize table, Lady
Mary Coke, wrote to a friend something
more than hundred years ago: THE carp
bones are intolerable, in the evening l lost
elght-and-twenty guineas at Lady Hert-
ford's 1 have thrown 0ne"-carp bone
in the fire; but whether . It's yours or
Mrs. Jackson's can't tell Was not this
lust like the African fetch worshipper?
The untuJOred savage when things go
wrong with him. beats his fetch; the Eng
lish lady, when her fetch failed to bring
her luck, threw it into the fire
Again, the African beats and maltreats
his fetch, but continues to worship it or
another Lady Mary Coke chung to her be-
lief in the virtues of the carp bone
Six years later than the date of the pre-
ViOus extract she wrote to a friend con-
corning another card party; = lost Is
guineas, though the carp bone lay upon
the table; but l fear the Princess -
Amelia-"has taken away the virtue. for
she unfolded the paper took 1t out and
called Ii an old tooth, which diverted the
company more than it did me, for from
that time l lost. At cards l am supersti-
tiOus and as il is only at play It's pardon
able" Lady Mary was candid, although
her reasoning is open TO question. Two
centuries earlier Reginald Scot, the fans
Gus authority on WitChCratt, had written
that "a bone taken out of a carp's head
stancheth bloud" There is no obvious
! connection between this piece of super
stition and Lady Mary Coke's absurd
fetch, but in folklore, luck, like other
mysterious virtues Is apt to be trasfer-
able, and an object which is considered
| good for some particular purpose GraG-
ually acquires character for virtue or
! general application.
Even the cards themselves are some
| times liable to be treated the way Lady
! Mary treated the treacherous carp bone.
] Edward Fitzgerald, the translator Of
| Omar khayyam, was well acquainted
! with the custom of the SUftod coast folks,
and in some notes on their words ana
/ phrases which he wrote many years ago.
/ he remarks that although cards We're
| often carried on board their boats by the
fisherman TO pass away the time at "All-
! fours, Don, or Sirwiser" games unknown
/ to the London card rooms-yet they We're
] regarded with some suspicion when bust
ness did not so right "A friend of mine -
/ he says, vowed that if his luck contin-
/ ued, over the cards should go; and over
I they went" Once more the fetish paved
the penalty.
card sayings or proverbs are few. Ev-
2 >
/ four, if the cards are so played in success,
/ sion, kiss the dealer" To cut an hono>
1 for the trump card is unlucky, for. says
/ country proverb, when quality opens
the door there is poverty behind" Cor
nish folks say that good luck turks I'M
/ der a black deuce"-it should be touched
! by the cutter Another proverb familiar
/ in Lyonesse says, Good luck in cards,
! bad luck in huSband-Or wife" But
/ this is monstrous, and may be relegated
( 10 the limbo of those very numerous pro
! verbs which may not unfairly he 5pfinaG
as condensed fOolshness.
Jacques La Lorraine Partisan writ
/ err of the Decadent school, has opened a
cobbler's shop in the Latin quarter. He
/ has tried for fifteen years to live by lit
+ erature, but he could not make it go
4 Now at 80, he has opened a shop hired
q cobbler and set about learning the trade.
1t is said that Prince Arthur of Con
( naught, who has just been entered as a
/ scholar of Elton, viii never reflect glory
upon the school by his brilliant scholar
I ship.