The age-herald., 1897-12-15
sUPERsTITIOUS SOCIETY GIRLS
Though They Wouldn't Own Such a Thing
 Each COddes Pet Superstition,
rom the Philadelphia Times.

From the Philadelphia Times.
 The society girl of the present, with all her boasted advancement in culture and mould of thought. will hout to seorn the assertion that she is more superstitious than her sisters of bye gone days. Yet such is the fact, nevertheless. Each one in truth if she will but acknowledge 1t, coddles little pet superstition of her own. which holds her in thrall, in addition to those cherished en masse by her com panions. One young girl I know of who promises to be among the most admired debutantes of the coming winter can never spy pin lying on the floor or sidewalk without stopping to pick it up. The rest ing place of the tantalizing little object may be far from immaculate and she in the daintiest of visiting attire, but over she must bend at the risk of running forever the tips of the light gloves and hopelessy twisting the bones of her best taior-made bodice, and secure that particular pin, she is sure the remainder of the day will be an entire failure. Another is always careful to hang her garters on the foot of her bed at night to Insure peaceful slum- Der. Another will never trim her nails or the ends of her hair except on Satur- day; another can never be persuaded into returning immediately over the way she has just come. If she had to go back she takes the back stairway or the other side of the street.
 The McGregors a few hundred years ago, you know, turned back from an expedition over the same route and were demolished by an unsuspected foe in unsuspected pur- suit and into whose open arms they guile lessly walked in consequence, and so on to the end of the list. Besides all these "in- ward beliefs,'' every girl must wear an outward and visible charm of some kind nowadays other than those with which na- ture has endowed her. The former of course, she professes to regard as purely ornamental as this latter, yet 1t would be hard to find even one. l would venture to wager, who does not consider her des- tiny ruled to a certain extent by the par ticular style of fetich to which fashion de- crees she shall pin her faith for the time being. Last year it was the rabbits foot; this season it is the four-leaved clover. Not that the latter idea is advanced as new, by any means; it is merely new in it's present adaptation. For up to now it has been only the clover which springs up unexpectedly in ones path in it's quadruple form, representing all of life's best gifts, lone leaf for health, one leaf for wealth, one for love and one for happiness" which could be regarded as the hamburger of es- pecial good fortune. If found while enjoy ing stroll under the charming circum- stances which George Elliot describes as "a solitude a deux," the owner was con sidered especially lucky.
 The attempt to substantiate the idea through the medium of brooches and pins has also been failure. These were at once voted common and utterly lacking in the virtues of the real article Recently, however, the question seems settled in fashion satisfactory to everybody. and this is the manner in which 1t has been accom- plished: The smallest specimens only of the clover are sought and gathered. These are carefully dried so as to preserve their natural color and then placed between two tiny crystals. These crystals may be trimmed with either silver or gold, in the shape of hearts, diamonds or circles, jew eled or plain, according to individual fancy