The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-01-14

uEdLA III 14 oAiiL " ~ C4dCd ny
three raps. Half the people oneNmeets
believe that a visitor Will come if a
dishc1pth falls to the floor. If it makes
a wet mark, the visitor will be a man.\
Other sure CD signs of a visitor are
a cock growing at the door, and going
in one door and cut of the other to
and from the. same apartment. When
starting on a Journey, if you wish to
have luck, you must not meet a cross
| Eyed person, a red-haired woman or
a white horse. You must not turn
| back; if forced to do so, you should go
in the house and sit down n count
seven!
When being married, the bride, to
have fortune, must wear:
Something old,
Something new,
Something borrowed,
Something clue.
'She must carefully chOose the day,
for:
Mondays for health, y
Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday, the best day Of all;
Thursday for losses,
Friday for crosses,
Saturday,, no day at ALL
"She must not wear green, for every
thread CT green is a thread of grief
1T is bad luck, when moving to take
with o a broom, a cat or the wood
pile. Apropos:
ga Saturday fit,
A short sit
eff you comb your hair after dark,
you comb sorror to your heart Three
lighted lamps on a table are a sure
sign of a death. A loaf of bread should
never be turned upside down on a
table. 1t is bad luck. 1t is bad to
make a cut in an unbaked loaf. 1t
| should be pricked with a fork, if you
! wish good fortune. A hive of bees will
not stay in the possession Of a quar-
relsome family. If you put a garment
on wrong side out accidently, it is ex-
cellent luck; but if you take it off and
right it, your luck turns to bad. I
know many people who wear a re-
verSed carmen all day, rather than
risk the change of luck.
eff you break a mirror, o will have
seven years bad luck. A common say
ing if the fire will not light, is;
-" If the wood defes the fire,
You will get something you don't de-
sire
This has another meaning, too;
That the husband, wife or lover of the
frebuilder is in a bad humor.
" If you sing before you eat;
You'll cry before you Sleep"
w nave all heard that:
"A Whistling girl and a Growing hen
Always come to some bad end
"All these signs are implicitly be-
lieved in by many people I know.
Another superstition is that the first
house an infant is taken to Will have a
birth in it within a year. "a friends
grandmother invariably, When she has
any bad luck, such as ner hens not
laying or any farm stock not prosper
ing, obtains something belonging to
the person she suspects of 'eVi1-eye,'
and, after sticking it full Of pins, burns
it. She claims that she always hears
Of this persons illness at once. She is
an Irish woman. If an infants nails
are cut before it is six months old, it
will be a thief. These things are believ-
ed by people of education and refine
inert, some of whom, although they are
apparently ashamed of them, would not
be able to bring themselves to violate
any of their superstitions."
Can anybody tell why it is supposed
to bOde i'll should a person walk under
a ladder? Mr.. William Tytler, Guelph
city school Inspector, saw an illustra-
ton of this belief when in Toronto a
few days ago.
Can this practise ave arisen from
the fact that accidents have happened
from bricks, mortar or other material
falling on foot passengers? AS a mere
matter Of precaution, it is always wise
to look up or coming to either a lad
der or a scaffold, but to refuse to pass
under one that is ~unoccupied is another
affair.
From a lady correspondent it is learn
ed that one should not SOW anything
during the increase of the moOn. 1t
may be all right with wheat and oats
and peas and ''sich,' but it won't do
for root crops because, don't you see
you want them to grow downward, and
this effect is best produces by sowing
your beets, mangles and turnips when
the farmers friend" is ON the ane
Nothing is said to be more certain
than that root crops sown at any
other time viii grow mainly upward
This lady also refers to the dish-cloth
superstition mentioned by Mrs. Bacon,
and mentions another to the effect that
when "Tabbie," in washing her face,
moves her avs over her ears, visitors
never fail to put in appearance, and
that if she (Tabbie) sleeps with her
back to the fire, it is a sure sign Of a
storm.
THE splitting of salt, too" says this
correspondent, lis regarded by many
people in this country as unlucky, and
the bad effects of such an accident can
only De offset by throwing a few grains
of the salt over the left shoulder.
"The game of whist is not free from
its signs and omens. Some players
always play in line with the grain OF
the table, and some have been known
to account for their losses because they
played against the grain The turn
ing of ones chair an odd number %
times is thought to bring luck in the
game.
ANY lady finding a pod with nine
peas in it will be rewarded il she place
it over the door, for the first unmarried
: gentleman who masses IL will