The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-06

1t is q beautiful new moOn-not exact
~ new, but since Tuesday night when
we first saw it. / never saw a larger
one nor a brighter one nor one that bal
anced itself SO proudly i'll the western
heavens. Not drop of water would it
spill and some say that means we will
have dry month and some say we will
have a wet one. To my unlearned
mind the moon is the most complicated
and wonderful piece of machinery in the
realms of space. 1t makes my head
swim to study it's elliptic orbit, its lunar
time and sidereal time, its Vibrations
of latitude and longitude and diurnal
libration: its ascending and descending
nodes and their retrOgrade motion which
takes eighteen years and 219 days to
complete: its apogee and perigee. the two
points of which are movable and move
along the circumference of the ellipse
from west to east and complete the cir
cult in eight years and 300 days. Some
times it comes along u circle IN the hea-
vens That is rear the zenith and some
times its course is low down in the south
ern sky. Its speed is not uniform as
it moves around the earth. for some
times it gets ahead and sometimes Tags
behind. Its axis is inclined to its orbit
and seems to nod backwards and for
wards for three degrees. IEen 1here
are tho eclipses, which add to the won
derful complications. and yet every
phase and every motion obey a law and
are Ineligible to men of science. 1T Is
the regularity of irregularities. But
men of science like Otis AShmOre under
stand it all and can make an almanac
and foretell ecipses for thousand
years. / have unbounded respect for
these mentor Greer and Ashmore and
DT. Means. all of our own state, and for
the lamented Professor Mitchell, who
was the greatest of modern astrono
mers
But this beautiful new moon provoked
another line of thought. | saw it over
my right shoulder and III Il clear sky
and was satisfied. and yet / am not SUI
perstitious about it. i had just a little
rather see it that way and so had the
majority of civilized people. Luna means
the moon, and most people are lunatics.
Even Blackstone, the great jurist, de-
fines a lunatic to be one who is insane
at times but has lucid intervals during
certain changes of the moon. And al
though the medical world has long
since exploded the superstitiOus theory
of the moons influence ON the mind,
the name of unatic still obtains and is
applied to all insane persons After
South Carolina had seceded,a man asked
Mr.. Pettigrew which was the road to
the lunatic asylum. ANY road-all the
roads" he said. 1.-The whole State is one
vast lunatic asylum" Almost everybody
has some superstition about the moons
influence on vegetation. My good neigh
Dor, Mrs. Fields. told me last week that
she had been right busy all day plant
ing her potatoes, for" said she, you
know it is the dark of the moon now.
She is the best gardener in the town
and always succeeds. but she does her
sef injustice when she gives the moon
any credit for her success. Many years
ago | made a fair test of the moon the
DRY. for | planted four rows in my gar
den in the dark of the moon and then
four more right beside them two weeks
later and gave all the same culture, and
| found no difference in the yield. The
best time TO plant potatoes is when the
ground is ready, and it may be very UNI
ready if we wait for the dark of the
moon. But i have found that good far
mers differ about how many days are in
Guided in the dark of the moon. Some
say one. some say two or three, and
others say all the days of the moons
wane. which would ne about thirteen.
But if there is anything in the moon
theory, why confine it TO irish potatoes
and peas and cans? Why not apply it
10 sweet potatoes and ground peas and
corn and wheat!
But there are other Superstitions that
even the most sensible and we'll educated
people cannot shake off. The roasted
chicken on our table to-day was gar
nished with parsley and we have none
in orr garden. | asked my wife where
it came from From Mrs. PostelFs.'
she said Il will get some from her.. said
/ land plant it. / sowed the seed last
spring, but it did not come up NO.,
said my wife, you won't get it from
Mrs. Postell, unless you go in the night
and steal it. She believes that it is
gift that carries death with the giving
and she wouldn't give YOU a plant for
the world. Why, she declares that it
always causes ii death in the family,
and only three years ago O. neighbor
pulled UP some by the roots against her
protest and took it home and planted
it. and the woman died within q week.
Well. now Mrs. Postel is "a very
smart. cultured and well-balanced wo-
man. but she is a lunatic on that subject,
and / fear that my wife is showing synp-
toms of the same malady. Certain it
is she will not hear to my getting parsley
plants from anybody as "a gift, and GER
tain it is that | am not going out at
night to steal any. Well, maybe that if
a person has faith in such things what
they believe will happen, for faith
will remove mountains, and if there is
Il faith cure there may be a faith kill.
These superstitions are deep-rooted, for
they come down to us through the ages.
There is plant called rue and another
called rosemary, and both were used in
the days of witchcraft to drive away
evil spirits. They were called 'iherbs Of
grace and were imbued with saving
qualities, while parsley is of evil omen
and dangerous, unless it is stolen by
night.
But my wife insists that little rea-
sonable superstition is a good thing to
have. for it proves that we are not over
confident i'll our own merits and feel the
need of Terrifying our welfare. She says
that it Indicates a belief in the super
natural and that if we were all like In
a II