The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-24
MAKING OATH.
In Some Countries Solemn and in Others
Lau7hable.

There is more than a touch of the
grotesque as well as of the solemn, in
the modes of administering oaths in
certain countries, says Tit-Bits. When
a Chinaman sWears to tell the truth,
he kneels down and a china saucer is
given to him. This he proceeds to
break in pieces, and the following oath
is then administered: You shall tell
the truth and the whole truth. The
saucer is cracked, and if you do not
tell the truth your soul will be crack
ed like the saucer"
Other symbolic variations of the Chi
nese oath are the extinguishing of a
candle or cutting off a cock head, the
light of the candle representing the
witness soul and the fate of the cock
symbolizing the fate of a perjurer.
In certain parts of India, tigers and
lizards skins take the place of the BIZ
Die OF Christian countries, and the pen
ATTY OF breaking the oath is that in one
case the witness will become the prey
OF tiger and in the other that his
| BODY will be covered with scales like a
| lizard :
one of the most terrible of European
! oaths is that admins tered in NorWe-
gian courts of law. The prelude to
the oath proper is a long homily on
| the sanctity of the oath and the ter
| rlble consequences of not keeping it.
| Fart of this lengthy sermon takes this
| form:
III you swear false oath the good
ness and mercy of God will not avail
| you, but you will be punished eternallv
IN hell as a perverse and hardened
sinner. If you swear falsely, all your
possessions will be cursed your land
and meadows, so that they will WELD
you no fruit; your cattle and sheen
VIII be barren, and all that you enioy
in this world will become a curse to
YOU
When the witness is duly crushed bv
the sense of his fearful responsibility
the oath is administered, while he holds
aloft his thumb and fore and middle
fingers, as an emblem of the Trinity.
1t is little CURIOUS that the ex-
preston, 'the truth, the whole truth.
and nothing but the truth" in very
slightly varied forms, runs through al
most all the oaths administered in
European courts.
In an Italian court the witness, with
his right hand resting on an open Bible,
declares, 81 will swear to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the TRUTH
The Mohammedan takes the oath
with his forehead reverently resting on
the open Koran. He takes his Bible
IN his hands, and, STOPPING low. as
II IN the presence of a higher power.
slowly bows his head until it touches
the book, which to him is inspired. In
the reverence of his acts and the I'M
sWerYlng loyalty TO an oath, MANY Eu-
ropeans have much to learn from a
follower of Mohammed.
In certain parts of Spain the wit
ness, when taking an oath, crosses the
thumb of one hand over the fore.
finger of the other, and kissing fhis
symbolic, If primitive, cross, says, by
this cross l swear to tell the truth"
IN the more usual form of admins
terlng the oath in Spain, the witness
kneels solemnly before the Bible and
PAGES his right hand reverentlv unon
II. The judge then asks him "Wiu
you swear, in the name of God and his
holy DOCK, to speak the truth in an
sWer 10 all questions that may be asked
you? The witness answers. IT swear y
Inc Judge then concludes "T4
you do this, God will reward Won. bnt
of you.'' ca ACCOUNT
An Austrian takes his oath in front
OF crucitix, tlanked by lighted can.
dies. With appraised right hand he
says; Il swear by the all powerful and
all wise God that I will speak the wb o,lit
ana clean truth. and nothing but the
truth: in answer to any Questions tho
may be asked in this court"