The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-16

girls should have signs aud omsns about
their business" the glove buyer COM
mented to a friend And the gloves at,
mind you, he added
There's much more superstition about
than psop.e are willing to admit said the
friend. Il know mushroom grower in
Jersey into whose cellars or hothouses no
woman is ever permitted to step for fear the
crop will be damaged The grower Ii a
Frenchman who supplies well-known
New York cafe with mushrooms. His
plant nets him considerable money and the
place is worth seeing.
There are a number of growers out in
that neighborhood and he gives several
instances in which bright prospects had
been blighted because women visitors had
bAsn admitted to the grounds Once since
he has been in the business he allowed
his injunction against women visitors
to b. infringed upon, and a season that
up TO that time promised abundant profit
ended disastrously
Now this Jerseynan is a practical bust.
hess man with no signs Of weakness about
him. Asked how il was that some WON n
grew mushrooms successfully he replic
that they only raised them in small quanti-
=
to tho culture,
Many women have prejudices about
! sewing on a button or mending a garment
! on the wearers back. Maggie. the house.
| maid. was completely upset the Their morn.
| ing because she met funeral first thing
| on her way to her niece's wedding She
came straight home.
The coffin all covered over with purple
a Iii.
steps Of one of them big churches on the
avenue as | turned into the street on the
opposite side Of the way she walled Twas
no use me goin On further, Mary can't
! never have no good luck in marryin' with
such sign right AZ the very start
The negro is as full Of superstition as an
| eggs ,ull OF meat. While we were boarding
| in a country house near Aiken one winter
| an alligator eight feet long came up out of
| the swamp across the fields, long dis
| lance. to the calf pen by one Of the negro
| cabins. The men killed il early the
| next morning and We viewed The remains.
| But the occurrence caused conster.
! nation in the negro quarter. Some old
| head they said, was going 10 die. That
vas why the alligator couldn't rest easy in
| his bed, but must come trapesin' on drv
land Moreover. wherever that ALI gator
passed the field would be blasted
we never learned whether this land.
| blasting omen came true, bu, in two DAYS
| after the alligator's visit a hoary- headed.
| but able -boded, negro, the veteran of
! the nei ghborhood, was stricken with paraly-
| sis and died He may have been scared
| into dissolut ion, knowing that all of his
| acquain,anoes regarded him as the par-
| tio,lar old head that the alligator came o
| call But this was one instance 10 nv
| knowledge where coincidence fitted in
| conveniently With superstition,
Our cook had a sign for everything.
| Once when she was irving down a quantity
| Of fat for lard two Of her friends c,me 10
ask permission to look into the bubbling
! pot and he thus relic we'd Of the evil spirits
| that mpuao cd them II seems that the ghost
| of suicide haunted bridge they had to
! cross often and they found his society
uncongenial. To look into pot Of boiling
| fat for a certain num',er Of minutes would
! break the charm.
The negro nevcr fails to make a cross
should he have to turn hack on starting
on Journey or an errand lie either
makes the cross ROUGHLY with his toe in the
sand or else SIGNS it in the air This will
appease evil.
About the proper digging Of grave
h is astidious He may hc poor and Of
small influence but under no circumstances
will he help 70 dig the grave Of relative.
For him 20 do So would bo To sign the death
warrant Of some person Of close kin to the
deceased
"Show IRE the woman who does not shud-
der az hearing that bride has lost her
wedding ring And show mo the man
who does not have uncanny feelings when
he hears a dog howl mournfillv AMI 70.
peateGlN for no seeming reason.