The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-10-23

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per. The man guilty Of such an action
would be booked upon with horror by
his 6liipmateS, although their current
speech Is usually vile and blasphemous
beyond belief.
And herein IS to be found q curious
distinction between geameIi Of Teuton-
ic and Latin race, excluding French
men, Despite the supeTstitiou0 rever-
ence the former pay to the written
word. one Of them would in time Of per-
Il dream OF rushing to the opposite ex-
IRENE. and. after madly abusing their
Bibles. throw them overheard. But the
excltnble I.ntIns, after beSeechlng their
patron Saint TO aid them IN the most
agcnizing tones. repeating with fren-
zled haste such prayers as they can re-
tnember, and promising the most costly
gifts In the event of their safely reach
ing port again, often turn furiOuEly up-
on all they have previously been wor-
shipping. and with the most horrld
bloSpheEnles vent their rage upon the
wililom objects Of their alteration.
Nothing IL too sacred for Insult, no
name too reverend for abuse, and
should there be. as there often Is. an
image Of aaInt on board, It will prob
ably be cast into the sea.
But one Of the most comprehensive
forms Of sea superstition Is that which
has for It's object the most prosaic OF
all seagoing people. the Films. Russian
Films, seamen always call them. al
though there Is far more Of the Swede
than the Russian about them. and their
tongue Is Swedish also. All things thnt
appeTtain, to q ship seem to come easily
to their doing. from the time Of first
laying the vessels keel until. with ev-
cry spar. SAL, and item Of running gear
in its place. she strips her "kellicK'' and
leaves the harbOr behind her for the
other side Of the world. And even then
the Finn will, be found to yield TO none
In his knowledge of navigation. AL
though his hands may be gnarled and
split with toll, and his square, express
sionless face locks as II "unskllled la-
sborer" were imprinted upon 1t. much
ditIlculty would be found In the search
Of a keener or more correct hand at
tigonometTlcal problems or a better
keeper OF that most useful document, a
ships log-bOoN.
Yet to these men. by common con-
sent, q supernatural status has been
assigned. Whether among the Latins
the same idea holds Is somewhat doubt
full. but certainly In British, American.
and Scandinavian vessels Films are al
ways credited with characteristics.
whiclTa century ago would have ilvolV-
ed them In many unplensantnesSes
Chiefly harmless, no doubt. these weird
powers, yet when your stolid shipmate
is firmly believed to control the winds
so masteffully as to supply his favored
friends with quarterlnB breeze while
all the rest Of the surrounding vessels
have dead muzzler," any affection
you may have had for him Is seriously
liable to degenerate into fear. 1t ls,
perhaps hardly necessary to Say that
from whatever the original idea Of
Finnish neeromancy originally arose, a
whole host Of legends have grown up;
many Of them too trivial for print.
others not less original than lewd, but
all evidently gratis Of fancy upon some
parent stock.
Thus. while there Is a rat in the.
ship. no Finn was ever known to lose
anything, because It is well known that
any rat IN the full possession Of his
faculties would be only too glad to'wait
upon the humblest Finn. And the Tea-.
son why Firms are always fat Is be-
cause they have only to go and stick
their knives in the foremas: to effect u
total change in their meat to whatever
they fancy most keenly at the time. 1t
Is well that they ars mostly temperate
men. since everybody knows that they
can draw any LIQUOR they like from the.
waterbeaker by turning their cap
around. and they never write letters
home because the birds that hover
around the ship are proud to bear their
messages whithersoeve: they list. The
|. catalogue Of their privileges might be
greatly extended were It needful. but
one thing always strikes an unbiased
observer-the Finn Is, almost without
exception, one Of the humblest. Quletest
Of seafarers, whose sole aim Is to do
what he Is told as well as he can, ia
give as little trouble as possible, and
where any post Of responsibility is CIV
en- him to show his appreciation Of It by
dong two mems work. he fills up his
leisure by deVising schemes whereby he
can do more.
or the mlno! superstitlons ther2 is
little TO be said. Few, Indeed. are the
old sailors now afoat who would culf
ing that his merry note would raise n.
storm. whlstling for wind, however.
stiil persists as much q habit as the
kissing Of n groom whlle'rubbing down
horse, but n very skeptical laugh
would meet anyone who inquired
whether the whistler believed that his
settlement would make any difference
to the force or direction OF tho wind.
Fewe' still are those who would now
raise any objection TO the presence OF a
clergyman on board. But the belief
that death, whether Of man or an
animal. must be followed by n gale Of
wind Is perhaps more firmly held then
any other, unless 1t be the notion that
sharks follow any ship wherein is an
niIing man or woman, with horrible an