The National tribune., 1899-10-26
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
superstitions Held by the Greeks and Ro-
mans Still Credited.

Laugh as one may at the prevalent super
stitions, nearly every person has some little
personal fetch Salt is spilled at the
table and, although we jest with our neigh,
Dor over the prospect of a quarrel, we hall
believe in it.
See a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck,
quotes the business man, hurrying along to
his Office, and he gravely stoops, picks up
the pin and runs it into the lapel of his coat.
A dog bowls at night; we recall the wide
spread belief that his bowling foretells
death. The dishtowel drops, and the
housewife, setting her table, puts on an
extra plate for the company that's coming u
Assigned 10 mo. -" in hotel, one is
pretty sure TO find that the r. ON is too large
or too small, too low or too high. Apollo
gizing for our own weaknesses in these re-
spects, it is comforting TO recall that these
same beliefs date back in one form or
another to remote antiquity, and that many
of the most learned people have been and are
slaves Of superstition.
Voltaire was more than once deferred
from following his inclinations by the
abrct fear which bad omens inspired.
Oliver Cromwell, tossing sleeplcssly upon
his bed one night, suddenly saw the curtain
part, and gigantic woman appeared be-
fore him, who informed him that he would
one day be the greatest man in England
and then disappeared.
Napoleon pointed to star that he fancied
ne saw shining in his room, and said: at has
never deserted me. / see it OH every great
occurrence urging me onward; it is an
unfailing omen of success" Napoleon,
Josephine, Roberspierre and the Emperor
Alexander, all alike, consulted Marie
Lonormand, a celebrated French NEGRO
mancer, who died i'll 1S43.
That common, everyday occurrence. the
sneeze has been regarded as portent, lucky
or unlucky, according 10 the time at which
it takes place. In the Odyssey the sneeZing
of Telemachus is accepted as lucky omen.
coming at the moment his mother was de-
nouncing the riotous, gourmandizing sailor
and praising the yalor of Ulysses.
She spoke. Telemachus then sneezed
aloud;
Constrained, his nostriis echoed the crowd.
The smiling queen the happy omen blessed:
$50 may these impious fail, by fate op-
pressed"
Again, while Xenophon was delivering
his famous address to the army, urging his
companions to be firm and bold, and while
they We're undecided as to whether resist
ance or retreat were the better part, a re-
sounding sneeze echoed down the ranks.
This omen was at once accepted. Tents
and all Superfiuous accouterments were
burned, and that famous retreat was begun.
| The sneeze has ever been crystalized into
proverbs, the Turks declaring that "Ssneez-
| ing is pleasing to God,n' and our old English
| forebears agreeing that 1.-TWO or three
SneeZas be wholesome"
The old custom of saying God bless
you!" when a sneeze is heard is of ancient
origin, and still prevails in oriental coun-
tries, where all manner of superstitions are
rife. Omens and, anguries both good and
evil are drawn frpm all the trifiing occur
rences of every day tpsides being sought
| for in the bones and eBtrails of slaughtered
sheep and in the flight of birds. All
| through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans
| the belief in the "evil eye" is universal, and
no pains are spared to avert its glance.
Purchasers of beautiful Kus Ghilem dra-
peries 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 anything
specially beautiful they must protect it in
this way from the blighting EVIL eye"
If a hen sheds her feathers in the house
or one of her feathers hangs askew without
falling it foretells the arrival of a friend OF
the receipt of news from an absent relative.
Should the hen crow like cock without
turning its head to the east it signifies a
death or other serious misfortune. If dur
Ing the night cock crows at an unusual