The times., 1898-10-30
DIRE DAYS.
MisfOrtunes That Have Recn Recur-
rent On Certnin Dntes


rent ON Certain Dates.
(From the Chicago Chronice.)
The belief that certain days are I'M
lucky prevails in all parts of the globe.
There is very general superstition with
regard to Friday. The Greeks will not
marry or commence any undertaking on
Tuesday. Constantinople fell to the
Turks on Tuesday, and since then the
second day OF the week has been con-
sidered unlucky by the Greeks.
Many people believe that some par
ticuar day of the year is unfortunate
They look forward with apprehension 70
the coming date, guard themselves with
the greatest care while 1t is passing and
breathe sigh OF relief when II is over
Every reader of Shakespeare is familiar
with the warning given to Julius Caesar
by the soothsayer: Beware the ides of
March" The idea conveyed was that
after the 18th of March Caesar would
no longer be in danger. On the 18th he
said to the soothsayer. THE ides of
March have come" Aye, but not past
replies the friendly seer.
Numerous Chicagoans believe that they
have unlucky days. wealthy resident
of Michigan Avenue was pursued by i'll
luck for forty years every July 3. Ex-
cept on that particular day he has be II
a very fortunate man. Everything that
he has touched during the rest Of the year
has turned to gold
When he was small boy he fell from
an English cherry tree on July and put
his shoulder out of joint. He remembered
the agony occasioned him when the bones
were set and the still more poignant grief
| caused by the fact that his father had
! given him 81 TO spend on the Fourth. He
/ lay in bed all day. and for many days
after, holding the 81 in his hand and
thinking of the vast amount of unpiayed
| play and una wakened noise il represented.
This gentleman further relates that a
! Shetland pony which he owned when ne
] was twelve years old died on the Sd oi
/ July, and that his favorite sister passed
/ away four years afterward on the same
! date. When he was twenty-four he was
/ discharged, unjustly, from business
| house in which he had been given lucra-
! tive position. and when he was thirty he
! was Tilted by a lady whose hand he had
( asked in marriage, both events occurring
on the fateful Sd.
He does not regard the jilting Us an un-
| fortunate occurrence. as the lady in ques-
ton is now fat and unattractlve and he is
very much in love with his wife. He cites
the instance merely to show that he sue
| ceeds in nothing that he attempts on the
| Sd of July. a house that he started 10
! build on July 3 burned down before 1t was
! finished.
This occurred when the gentleman was
| forty. Since then he has done actually
nothing on his unlucky days. except 10
minister TO his corporeal wants. and mis-
fortune has ceased to pursue him
The tradition of an unlucky day is
handed down in many families. There is
q lady living in this city. well known in
the best social circles, who is of English
descent, and traces her lineage back 10
Lady Jane Grey The date on which the
| unfortunate Lady Jane was executed has
/ always been considered an unlucky day
/ by the descendants of the family.
our fair Chicagoan remembers how one
| ancestor of hers was killed on February
l2 in the Scotch border war, and another
in battle by the French on the same day
of the month.
on the same date her grandfather was
shipvreclsed on his way from Liverpool
10 Madras during a terrible hurricane and
was drowned.
She is greatly in hopes that the viru-
lence of the hoodoo may have worn ltseli
out because her father lived to a green
old age and died on the 18th of November
That the curse had not entirely litted
however. she is certain because the day
rarely passes without infiictinS on mel
some slight annoyance or other. Three
wears ago, for instance, burglars broke int
the house and stole a solid silver tankar'
which had been an heirloom in the famil!
for many years and was thought TO hav'
belonged to the unfortunate Jane herself
Two years ago the lady landed in New
York with large number of Paris dress
es. The customs official on whom sh'
was depending happened to be absent OF
that one day of all the year and she wa:
Obliged to pay an enormous duty.
Last year bank broke in which sh
had deposited $3.o00, her entire pin none
for six months. All these things happene
on February Il.
In old English times unlucky days wer
called Egyptian" days, since the super
stition seems to have originated in tina
country.
According to an ancient Saxon manu-
script three days in the year were inau
) spicious-the last Monday in April, tn
first day in August and the first Monda
} in the last week of December.
In an old sermon we are warned agains
: keeping Thursday as holy day, unles
II is sacred to n saint
J The ancients had dies atri'' and ''die
: abr Gnauspcious and auspicious days
which were marked on their calendar
with black and white characters respect
lively.