The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-12

/ cause il is his chief function to add a
/ welcome fourteenth TO the unlucky num-
! Der. The Italians never use il in making
| up thelr lotteries, ana in one OF their
games the thirteenth card bears the figure
OF death. Similarly ia Turkey the num-
Der IL is very nearly eXpunged from The
vocabulary of the people. Nor is there any
lack OF explanation Of this almost uni
versal idea. AT least TWO are furnished
for our choice
In the old Morse mythology, when the
gods Of Nalhalla were holding high reVel
LoH came in as ain unlimited guest. The
! consequence was that as soon as BalfOur
arrived he made the number of guests
thirteen, and fate decreed that ne should
die Christians refer TO another and
more solemn incident There were thir-
teen VINO partook OF the last supper, ana
Judas, who left the table first, went ana
hanged himself. IL was in consequence
Of this that the number was accused. 70,
getner apparently with all combinations
OF hgures into which It enters Sooner
or later II was of course inevitable that
50 Widespread an so fascinating a super
stition should be challenged. Some thir-
teen years ago-the very interval Of time
is an odd coincidence-a club was started
in New York for the express purpose of
Waglng war against the associations con-
nected with the luckless nUmeral The
members We're always 10 consist Of some
muitlples Of thirteen. They dined togeth-
er on the 18Th of every month, thirteen at
table, and their club dues We're 10 cents a
month. 1t will be remembered that only
short time ago similar institution was
established in Ensi nd. and farccal en-
tertalnment was provided, at which knives
were crossed, salt was spilled, deaths
heads ana cross bones ornamental the
walls, and the walters We're chosen be-
cause they squinted and possessed the evil
eye. The American club Individually pub
hshes reports to prove that, Individually,
and collectively, they are as healthy, pros
porous and long-lived as other members
OF the community; nor, so far as We are
aware, did any serious calamity fall upon
their daring imitators in London.
1t is idle TO imagine that an inveterate
superstition can be got rid of by such
merely theatrical bravado as this. The
case stands with it as is does with a
similar idea about the folly of undertake
ing any serious enterprise on a Friday.
| There are whole classes of mankind to
whom these notions form a kind of I'M
written creed. Every one knows that
sailor does not like his ship to be commits
stoned on a Friday. Indeed. a1e of the
explanations given of the disaster which
befell the Thrasher torpedo boat was that
1t mad unlucxily commenced its cruise on
the penultimate day of the week Soldiers.
though not quite so superstitious as sail
ors, are by no means free from similar
prejudices and gamblers who live the life
of the nerves believe in luck with obsti--
nate tenacity. The theatrical profession,
again, has its fixed beliefs. No stage man
ager in his senses would make his COM
pany repeat the final tag of a play until
the actual performance, and the the pres
ence OF black cat is supposed to insure
a success. Before many of the most pros
porous pieces produced at the little house
in Tottenham street it was noticed, as
Lady Bancroft tells US in her interesting
memoirs that a cat or kitten of sable
hue used invariably 10 make its appear
ance on the stage. What is the good of
opposing the cold deductions of reason to
charming fances of this description? They
form part of the romance and poetry of
life, and It would be a dull world which
had no primitive unreal oned instincts and
imaginative theories to save US all from
being submerged under the somber tide OF
logical syllogisms and rule-of-three sums.
Besides one could only combat the super
stition about thirteen by an exhaustive
inquiry into the doctrine of chances. and
the higher mathematics, howevesynec
sary for astronomy, do not form A.Agree-
able mental exercise for the majority of
mankind. Who cares for the statistics
which prove that the New York Thirteen
Club has had no very extensive mortality
among its members? Each of us knows
Instances IN private experience where
some strikingly deadly result followed the
presence of thirteen guests at table. In
beliefs of this kind no one is so wanting
in humor as to try to collect negative in
stances-ins tances where through some ac-
cident a fourteenth convive failed to ap-
pear, and yet nothing very remarkable
happened. The ancient story about ship
wrecked mariners applies to this, as it
does TO many similar cases of the kind
When the old-world sailor escaped death
by drowning it was his habit to hang up a
votive tablet in the temples of the god or
goddess TO whom he had made his vows
and through whose benevolence death had
been averted. II was only dull-pated and
highly reprehensible skeptic who ventured
to ask for instances in which, despite all
kinds of promises to the Olympian deities,
the poor seafaring man had persisted all
the same.