The record-union., 1899-07-26
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.

QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
Superstitions Of the Greeks and
Romans Still Credited.
Laugh as one may at present super
stitions, nearly every person has some
little personal fetch. Salt is spilled at
the table, and, though we jest with our
neighbor over the prospect of a quar-
rel, we half believe in it.
See pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good LUCK
quotes the business man, hurry1ng
along to his office. and he graVely
stoops, picks up the PIN and runs 1t into
the lapel of his coat.
A dog howls at night; we recall the
widespread belief that his bowling fore
tells death The dish towel drops ana
the housewife, setting her table, puts on
an extra plate for the company that's
coming" Assigned to mo. IL" in
hotel, one is pretty sure to find that the
room is too large or too small, too low
or too high Apologizing for our own
weakness in these respects, it is com'
-forting to recall that these same belle1s
date back in one form or another to
remote antiquity, and that many OF thS
most learned people have been and are
slaves of superstition.
Voltaire was more than once deferred
from following his inclinations by the
abiect fear which bad omens inspired
Oliver Cromwell. tossing sleeplessly
upon his bed one night, suddenly saw
the curtain part, and gigantic woman
appeared before him. who informed MIN
that he would one day be the greatest
man in England-and then disappeared
Napoleon pointed to a star that he fan
cied he saw shining in his room ana
said: TT has never deserted me. 1
see it on every great occurrence urging
me forward; it is an unfailing omen OF
success" Napoleon, Josephine, Robes
pierre and the Emperor Alexander, all
alike consulted Marie Lenormand, a
celebrated French necromancer, who
died in 1S43.
That common, everyday occurrence,
the sneeze, has been regarded as por-
tent lucky or unulucky, according to
the time at which it takes place. In
the Odyssey the sneezing of Telemachus
is accepted as a lucky omen, coming at
the moment his mother was denouncins
the riotous, gormandizing sailors and
praising the valor of Ulysses.
She spoke Telemachus then sneezed
aloud;
Constrained, his nostril echoed through
the crowd.
The smiling Queen the happy omen
blessed;
so may these impious fall, by fate
oppressed
Again, while Xenophon was delivering
his famous address to the army, urging
his companions to be firm and bold, and
while they were undecided as TO
whether resistance or retreat were the
better part, resounding sneeze echoed
down the ranks. This omen was at
once accepted. Tents and all superflu-
Gus accoutrements were burned, and
that famous retreat was begun. The
sneeze has ever been crystallized into
proverbs, the Turks declaring that
'Sneezing is pleasing to God," and our
old English forebears agreeing that
1.-TWO or three sneezes be wholesome. -
The old custom of saying God bless
you," when a sneeze is heard is of an
cient origin and still prevails in Orien-
tai countries, where all manner of su-
perstitions are rife. Omens and au-
guries both good and evil are drawn
/ from all the trifling occurrences of
every day, besides being sought for in
| the bones and entrails of slaughtered
sheep and in the flight of birds. All
through Turkey, Greece and the Bal
kans the belief in the "evil eye' is uni
verSal, and no pains are spared to avert
| it's glance. Purchasers of beautiful kus
Ghilem draperies. or exquisite silky
Turkish rugs here. are often puzzled at
finding strips of calico or tresses OF
black hair caught in with the weave.
! These have been inserted by the wild
! Kurdish weavers of the rugs, who be-
lieve that when they are making any,
thing specially beautiful they must pro-
| tect it in this way from the blightina
'evil eye"
| If a hen sheds her feathers in the
house or if one of her feathers hangs
asckew without falling it foretells the
arrival of a friend or the receipt OF
news from an absent relative. Should
the hen crow like cock without turn
/ ing it's head to the east it signifies a
death or other serious misfortune. II
! during the night cock crows at an
unusual hour, it is either sign of a
| change in the weather or that import,
ant news will arrive in the morning II
a cat news repeatedly, some member
! of the family will soon fall ill., If she
| licks a finger it is a sure sign of rain.
Among the Hebrews of the East, nose,
bleed is considered most unlucky, and
! wonderful are the means resorted to to
stop it. At the first indication the suf-
ferer usually hies him to a priest, wha
will write for him the name of Levi
backward, or he must get lawyer to
write for him, also backward, these
magic words: Ana pipi Shila bar
! Sumko.''
| Another charm is to stand with one
foot on each side of a. small stream
| flowing from east to west, and take uu
with the right hand some mud from
under the left foot, and with the left
! hand from under the right foot, then
| twist two threads OF wool and insert
/ them in the nostril.
| On the day on which the new moon
is first seen in Albania all possible work
| is avoided and no important task of
any kind, such as plowing, sowing or
harvesting is begun, for it would be
sure to be unsuccessful The girls look
at the moon through a sieve and rub
| their faces with a piece Of silver while