Daily camera., 1898-05-23
NOW THE TURKEY FOOT.
A New Charm That Is Worn by
the Superstitious.
The Rabbits Foot, So Long Popular,
Has Been Displaced by the New
Mascot-An Old Negroes

The rabbits foot is not in tho race
any longer as charm. What has
caused the downfall of bunnie's hind
foot as protection against all evil
and an assurance of perpetual good
luck for its happy possessor is rather a
puzzling question and one which the
fair sex and the advocates Of the new
fad would find it hard to explain. Per-
haps the late presidential campaign
may have had something to do with it.
Every one knew that the silver candi-
date was presented with rabbits foot
Immediately upon receiving his NOM
ination, and that the mascot complied
with all the requirements of the case,
for it was ''the left hind foot of molly
cottontail, that had been killed in the
full of the moon, at IL o'clock at night
in graveyard, by red-headed niger"
Well, the rabbit having enjoyed so
great and SO long run of popularity,
in the natural course of events, the
time has come for him to step down
and out. He has done SO, and his place
has been taken by one of the kings of
the farlny nyard-the lordly turkey.
Fashion DEGREES that in order to be
lucky one must wear in some manner
or possess in some shape or other a
turkeys claw.
This fad is SO new that it has hardly
reached the counters yet, except in one
or two shops which pride themselves
upon bringing out all the most ex-
elusive novelties. OF course, it will
eventually become as common as the
craze for rabbits feet, but to-day it is
very difficult thing to find turkeys
claw prepared in the proper style for a
charm against bad luck.
The most popular style at present is
the natural claw, properly treated by
taxidernist, its shank covered by q sill
yer or gold cap set with an amethyst.
turquoise or the new green stone.
which resembles an emerald. The tip
of the nail is covered with a gold or
silver cap, with fine chain to match
the cap from the shank to what one
might call the wrist of the claw, and a
pretty scarlet ribbon bow with long
ends tied just below the shank.
These new mascots are so arranged
that they can be hung up as ornaments,
or used as paper weights or table orna
ments. In one case 1 saw one profusely
bejeweled, which was intended for
cabinet. AS dress ornaments they are,
so far, but little used, though was told
they were being fashioned into clasps
for fastening golf capes at the neck.
1 asked an old colored man if he had
ever heard of the turkeys claw as be-
ing an unlucky or lucky charm.
TWhy, yes" he replied. 'Down south,
where I come from, it is better and
luckier to steal your Thanksgivin' or
Christmas turkey. I don't hold with
the fashion of stealing anything, but if
you can only steal your turkey for the
holiday dinner you will have good luck
all the rest of the year. In the old Gays
the 'massa' would put away a lot of tur-
keys, and the darkies would go in the
night, just at 12 o'clock, and steal the
BIRDS"
DuU W1idU dUOuU UlC CldN w udC
good luck does that bring?"
"Why, bless your heart, don't you
know that the turkeys foot is an aw-
full lucky thing? You must take the
claw after you have cleaned your tur-
key-a stolen one, mind you-dip it in
salt, bury it, you better say, in a dish
of salt for whole week, and let it lie
there, so that all the bits of flesh which
stick to it are cleaned away, and your
foot is just as sweet as a nut. Then
you take it out and scrape it and clean
it and polish it, until it just shines like
piece of stone. Then you put it up
over your door, and no bad luck, sick
ness or anything can come in during
the year."
"Will it keep out death?"
"No, ma'am, it will not. Don't you
konw sometimes death is the biggest
piece of good luck that can happen to
you?"
"But do you know why turkeys foot
is lucky?"
"I never heard but one reason, and
that was that after the devil had
tempted Eve and was crawling away
after getting her to eat the apple. he
came across tbe turkeys path and the
turkey lifted up his right foot and
strlr'- It his head. The blow was so