The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-29
sUrERsTITrous suRvrvALs.
Splitting and Dropping, Turning
~ Back, Cats, Matches and Salt.

If man walks under a ladder and
the careless painter above upsets the
paint pot upon him the victim prompt
ly forgets both his religious teachings
and his materialistic reasoning and all
the preachers in the world and all the
1ngersolls in forty-five states combined
could not convince him that it was
not unluclSy to do as he had done.
Superstition is the one thing that
Christian and unbeliever unite in at
| lacking, yet, despite the onslaught of
pulpit. press and platform, it survives
not, perhaps. as openly, but none the
! less strongly, even if shame facedly
| feared.
The Witch of Endor may be but a
classical remembrance and civilization
may have convinced the Salemites of
the futility of the brand and the fagot
as an exercising medium, but few of
US have not some hoodoo or some be-
lief, however slight in fate and for
tune. Hypnotism and the faith cure
| are its modern development.
Superstftion shown in Proverbs.
The literature of superstition, as ex-
pressed in the proverbs of every land,
is not usually given the attention it
deserves. These maxinls representing
the tested and accumulated experience
of mankind have had their effective
ness destroyed by familiarity. The
| axiom that in union there is strength
is only being fully appreciated by the
corporations and the labor unions aft
er centuries of repetition. This was
one of the proverbs not based upon SUI
perStition, which PROBABLY accounts for
its lack of recognition sooner. But
take the majority of the aphoriSms
| and it is not difficult to trace them back
to superstitious origin or forward to
superstitious moral. The more
haste the less speed" finds expression
in the belief that it is unlucky to turn
back from a journey. The individual
who has been half way to his work
with few minutes to spare and has
| had TO turn back for some essential
he had forgotten, realized the i'll luck
when he was locked" for being late.
| The man who hurries to catch a train
or to see a show and leaves his money
or his ticket in his other clothes also
adorns the illustration.
Splitting box of matches is a sure
sign of a row in many households. If
1t is the man of the house who does
the spilling che row doesn't tarry on
the way while he picturesquely blames
his better half for leaving them upside
down or placing them In an awkward
corner. Splitting the salt was long re-
garded as so unlucky that unspillable
salt shakers were invented to dodge it.
Cat the symbol of the Fates.
The uncanny eat has long been the
Symbolic superstitious animal. The
black eat which crosses the path of the
pedestrian brings him i'll luck. This
Is especially true if the threatened
victim tries to ward it off by shooing
the cat back to it's lair. With ones eyes
on the cast one may easily trip upon
instructions and break a. leg or a neck.
But the cat is not always an omen of
evil. II he or she squats at your
door and, news Justify at night it
means good luck to all within the
house. To chase such cat away is
to chase away ones luck. 1t is terri
bic to think of the amount of luck
that has ben chased away.
When one door shuts another opens,
says the proverb. Quaint and homely
was it's wisdom. But the one that
opens may be the door of the police
station or the poor farm nowadays.
Still, it is a door, and that let's the
proverb out. Some have striven to en-
large the axioms by having two open
when on shuts, but one must have
been a screen door, and that doesn't
count. One might never get farther
. than the vestibule.
Thrfves Best Among Women.
Superstition, like religion, thrives
best among women. Their more mag
NATIVE minds grasp the ideals that
elude the masculine materialist. The
dropping of knife in many houses is
regarded as so certain an indication
of the arrival of man at the house."
that preparations are at once made to
evade the ice collector and the Install
ment man, or to be out when the tax
collector calls. The dropping of a fork
equally foretells the visit of a woman
and the lady of the house Immediately
darts to her boulder to "primp up"
All people do not know that the drop
ping of a comb while combing the hair
indicates that the person dropping it
will soon hear of a death. An instance
of this occurred last week. Friday a
friend of the family, writing from
Ohio, incidentally mentioned the death
Of the mother of the grocer the family
used to buy from. The comb was thus
corroborated despite the fact that the
deceased was otherwise entirely I'M
known.
For a friend to meet or pass you and
not recognize you means that you will
be married within a year. The fact
that you are already married does not
matter, presumably. You must get a
divorce and make the prediction good.
Fortunately this axiom is more honor
ed in the breach than in the observ-
aance.
Opening an umbrella in the house is
unlucky. Any person who has hoisted
his or her umbrella in the house and
in so doing has nocked off a lamp
globe or shade, never doubted the wis
dom of the proverb maker Dropping
an umbrella presages a disappointment.
He who has tried to brush the mud of,
has many of them before he gets II
cleaned again. There is. however. no
ill-luck attached to dropping the sub
ject.
FIST FIGHT LEADS TO MURDER.