The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-11-08
LUCK GOOD AND BAD.

Superstition is the one thing that
Christian and unbeliever unite in at
tacking yet, despite the onslaught Of
pulpit, press and platform, it survives,
not perhaps as openly, but none the
less strongly, even if shamefatedly
feared.
The Witch of Endor may be but a
classical remembrance, and civiliza-
tion may have convinced the Sale
mites of the futility of the brand and
the fagot as an exercising medium,
but few of us have not some hoodoo
or some belief, however slight, in fate
and fortune.
The literature of superstition as ex-
pressed in the proverbs Of every land
issnot usually given the attention it
deserves. These maxims, represent
ing the tested and accumulated ex-
perience of mankind, have had their
effectiveness destroyed by familiarity.
But take the majority of the aphor-
isms, and it is not difficult to trace
them back to superstitious origin or
forward to a superstitious moral.
"The more haste the less speed"
finds expression in the belief that it
is unlucky to turn back from jour-
ney. The individual who has been
half way to his work with few min
utes to spare and has had to turn back
for some essential he had forgotten
realized the Ill luck when he was
"docked" for being late. The man
who hurries to catch train or to see
show and leaves his money or his
ticket in his other clothes also adorns
the illustration.
If a man walks under ladder and
the careless painter above upsets the
paint pot upon him, the victim promp-
tly forgets both his religious teachings
and his materialstic reasoning, and
all the preachers in the world could
not convince him that it was not un-
lucky to do as he had done.
Spllling box of matches is a sure
sign of a row in many households. II
it is the man of the house who does
the spilling, the row doesn't tarry on
the way while he picturesquely blames
his better half for leaving them up
side down or placing them in an awk-
ward corner. Spilling the salt was
long regarded as unlucky that un-
spillable salt shakers were invented to
dodge it.
The cat has long been the symbolic
superstitious animal. The black cat
which crosses the path of the pedes-
trian brings him ill luck. This is es-
pecially true if the threatened victim
tries to ward it off ny shooing the cat
back to its lair. With ones eyes on
the cat one may easily trip up on
distractions and break a leg or 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 terrible to
think of the amount of luck that has |
been chased away.
The dropping of knife in many |
houses is regarded as so. certain an
indication of the arrival of a man at |
the house that preparations are at
once made to evade the ice collector |
and the installment man or to be out |
when the tax collector calls. The
dropping of fork equally fortells the
visit of a women, and the lady of the
house Immediately darts to her bou-
doir to prim up.
All people do not know that the
dropping of a comb while combing the |
hair indicates that the person drop
ping will soon hear of death. An in.
stance of this occurred not long ago.
The comb was dropped on Tuesday.
Friday 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 correlated, despite the fact
that the deceased was otherwise entire
ly unknown.
The barking or bowling of dog at
night is sign of death. 1t ought to
be that of the dog. An old lady was
much concerned over the fate of some
body because of dog bowling under
her window one night and expressed
her convictions that it meant some
thing unfortunate. During the day
triumphantly pointed out in a news
paper the account of a man dying in
Philadelphia.
For 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 observance.
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 knocked of |
a lamp globe or shade never doubted
the wisdom of the proverb maker.
Dropping an umbrella presages dis
appointment. He who has tried to
brush the mud off has many of them
before he gets it cleaned again. There
is, however, no ill luck attached to
Il