Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-09
UNSOLICITED GIFTS.
People Send All Sorts Of Charms to
the President.

People Send All Sorts OF Charms t
the President.
semstlmss They Are Rabbits Feet and Some
i times Asrowhsads.
Among the unsolicited gifts which
strangers are constantly sending to the
President Of the United States are nu;
by the well-meaning to lend supernatural
help and service TO- the chief executive
and his family. While Of no practical
i interesting as affording evidence of the
fact that superstition at the end OF the
nineteenth century Is BY no means dead.
such talismans on the ground that they
j illustrate an important phase Of anthrO-
lpolOgy, the notions regarding the special
potency of many of them having been
handed down from prehistoric times,
writes the Washington correspondent OF
the Boston Transcript.
| Every now and then somebody sends to
Mr.. Mckinley rabbits foot. for luck,
and arrOwheads are received from time
to time. Al over the world stone arrow
heads are popularity regarded as possess
ing miraculous virtues. their origin being
supposed to be supernatural. In fact II is
we'll known in Europe that somewhere IN
a cavern In the centre of mountain the
archfiend himself carries on the manu-
facture Of these "witch-darts," or elf
darts" as they are called. with the help
Of attendant imps. The latter perform
out OF mint flakes. after which they re-
ceive their finished form and edge from
the master demon. Thus they are made
ready to infiict all sorts Of mischiefs up
on unfortunate human beings against
whom they may be directed. II the fam
lily cow is sick. 1t is probably because she
has been struck by one OF them.
These witch-darts are picked up now
and then In nearly every part OF the
world. 1t is obvious that nobody makes
or uses them. and therefore they must be
are still employed as weapons by spirits
and every year an army OF COLLINS files
through the air In a storm and discharges
Il shower of these projectiles. II per
son takes the precaution to wear an elf
dart at his deck, he Is proof against such
missiles.
called science. which throws mystic
rious shadows where malevolent agents
may Turk. The superstition regarding
opals Is very much alive today In the
United States. To wear an opal, or to
possess one. is supposed to be bad luck,
and yet when certain great building N
by fire few years ago, the only part
OF it that escaped was the premises oc-
cupied by Tiffany & Co.. where was
opas ' ne Ser
ious stones have occult powers for good
or evil. Turquoises sometimes change
color. and that Is ominous. Garnets are
worn by widows to assuage grief.
In Brittany certain mineral known to
! science as "staurolite.' which crystal
Lies normally in form that has the APP
pearance Of a cross when the stone is
| cut in slices, Is imagined to be OF super
natural origin. There are several quar-
ries of staurolite in Brittany. one of them
near ARRAY, and picturesque specimens OF
the mineral are gathered and mounted by
jeweiiers. to be cut up and sold as ANU
lets. slab of the stone containing
| number of the crosses is regarded with
| great veneration, and Is almost priceless.
Amulets of this material are a sure pre-
vention against shipwreck, drowning and
lhydrophobia.
| There Is no country in the world where
belief in such things is more prevalent
than in Italy, where the people generally
are stepped in superstition. Curiously
| enough, no amulets are more generally
priced by them than beads of common
glass, ground in faucets and strung:
Such strings of glass beads are supposed
| to possess wonderful medicinal proper
ties. protecting the wearer against diph-,
iberia and other diseases OIL the throat.
There should be seven or nine beads and,
If possible. one of them must De of rock
crystal. Every midwife has string Of
these beads, and all careful mothers pro-
| vide or hire them to be worn by their
children as the latter approach puberty.
| One of the most curious superstitions
exists in regard to the so-called toad
lection against kidney diseases. 1t used
| to be imagined that these toad-stOnes ex-
listed originally in the neads of toads.
saS daya peihg able to soae
who knew how to furnish the requisite
inducement. However, 1t is now known
that they o; are the teeth a' Of an extinct and
toothed shark Occasionally they are
washed up. on the .seashore, as reminders
of an epoch to which such notions super
n n ran q
than they do to the present enlightened
day.
The processes of nature, in the making
Of the earth. have evolved many queer
freaks, and not the least familiar Of these
is the concretion of limonite which has
the form of hollow ball. with detached
fragments inside. 1t is unnecessary to go
into description Of the method, well
understood. by which balls OF this kind
We're made; for present purposes It will
| suffice to say that they are regarded as
possessing special virtue to help women
during pregnancy. In the same way, a
ringed agate. which may be Imagined to
tectln against the evil eye. In Italy, any
glittering object. particularly. glass, is
considered as antagonistic to the evil eye
Indeed, the demand for such things is SO
great that II is impossible to prevent ser
wants from stealing the glass shoppers Of
bottles and glass pendants of chandeliers
world countries. that charred fragments
Of Yufe log. placed in building. are a
precautiOn against lightning. Not long
ago, at a town In Perugia, there was
grave discussion as TO whether a light
ning-rod or a Yule log should be en-
ployed for the protection Of the parish
| church. The decision was in favor of the
log, because 1t was less expensive.
Belief in the virtue of amulets seems to
have begun with the dawn of human
ideas. In ancient Egypt little bulls heads
of blush diorite. resembling turquoise,
| were placed on the mummies' necks to
keep off evil spirits. SOlomOn's signet
was famed, according to story, for it's in
fiuence over demons and genii. The most
ancient emblem in the world 10 the
.swastika,'" which the trader. Of southern
India paints on the fyleaf of his ledger,
or beside his dOorpcst, to keep ill-fOrtune
away from his children and his animals
Sometimes this symbol is drawn upon the
| shayen heads Of children in India Hard
ly in the same class, perhaps. though
supposed to be very old, are the bones OF
| the saints. which are made to serve as
amulets. Some favorite saints have had
a sufficient number Of bones to make up
several complete skeletons. During the
Middle Ages alleged pieces Of the true
| cross were sold at enormous prices, AMI
some of them are preserved to this day
In the ecclesiastie establishments of Eu-
rope.
An Illustration of the tendency to re-
| o. rd MT