The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13
Our Superstitions and
 How We Come by Them

frightened the world into spasms of un- reasoning terror.
 Thus do we compliment ourselves with the belief that we are at an immeasur- able distance in this particular from those who have gone before. Our satiS- faction. however agreeable to entertain, is. nevertheless, far from justified by the facts. We pride ourselves on our supe- riorfty to tho men of past agea. when In fact. we are just as superstitious as they. We have not indeed, the same supersti- tions. We do not believe as Luther did. that Satan can come unbidden and take stand on the other side of the table. We laugh at Wesley's notion that # be- lief in witches were given up, faith ;n the Bible would be shaken; we smile at his story Of 'tOld Jeffrey" the family ghost; we pity the ignorance of those be- nightsd persons a century or two ago who invoked the aid of the black art in their undertakings; who made compacts With the Evil One. and were finally car ried off bodily to his place of abode. These notions. we say. were entertained only In dark and ignorant ages; such fol- lies are beneath the notice of the cSu- cated present.
 tt is not well, however, to Dc too sure of our ground and we ought to be cer- tain ere congr0tulating ourselves that we have really passed the mIlUstones that we think we see far in the rear AS long as men cherish a belief fin the supernatural at all, odd manifestations will now and than appear. and these now adays. as they always have been, are numerous enough to justify the belief that the world is about as superstitious as 1t ever was, aad that even what may De called the gTOsser forms of uftperstl- tious belief, are still very generally en- tertatned. Men repndiRte a belief in ga- tan's horns and hoofS. yet shiver at the idea of personal devil; they disclaim a belief in ghosts and yet walk a mile around rather than so through a grave yard after dark. We do not believe in charms and amulets. Oh, no, of course not. But ste charms and amulets are advertised for sale in tt~ papers, and many a man who has no faith in them apologetically explains why he carries a potato or a buckeye in his pocket. We do not believe in the significance of dreams. yet every book store carries A choice selection of dream book litera- ture. We do not believe that anS hu- man being has the power to peer into the future. yet every city has it's fortune tellers Of course. we do not believe in the superstitions of the old days, when men were frightened at their own shad- ows, but still there are some things quite tnscrutable, you understand. and there may be something in those old notions after all.
 There are so many things you see. in nature, we do not understand, that 1t Is not remarkable we should occasionally happen, in our experience, on onelor two quite mysterious.
 As a matter of fact the world changes its superstitions as it changes It's clothes, but it always wears clothes and always has superstitions. The influence of hered- itry is as strong among men as among animals, and is as powerful In mental as In physical attributes. Sons and daugh- ters quite as often inherit the mental as well as the physical traits of their parents, and what Is lamentably true weaknesses of minN and body are more frequently transmitted than qualities tending to strength. Superstition may be an evidence of weakness Some think it is, but 1t Is certainly a curious fact that great minds, not more than small, are free from what we call superstition. An explanation may possibly be found In the fact that the supernatural is as far past the comprehension of the wise man as of the slmpleton. Between things natural and things above nature there Is a great gulf fixed, and the mightiest intellect can no more bridge the chasm than the humblest intelligence. Where neither can unQerSIanQ, either IS aL ilDerLy 10 uraW its own conclusions, hence the lurking belief In the supernatural which fs com mon to all men. Not being able to under stand the superna 1Iral. we can not say in what directions it's manifestations may appear, if they appear at all. We are completely in the dark. hence each of us chsrishes his own little superstition and often makes merry at that of his neigh bor. whose pet superstition, being dif- ferent from his own, is, of course, quite absurd, ridiculous.
 As already seen, we are not altogether responsible for our superstitions. Not a few of them come to Us through the habits. good or bad. mostly the latter, of our ancestors. There, for example, Is the salt superstition. Every man and woman fin town knows that spilline the salt on the table cloth. whether accident ally or of design, Is unlucky, but not one in a thousand can tell why. The reason Is perfectly plain to any one who knows aught of the habits of our Teutonic an- cestors. Away back in the days when feudal barons held sway in castles built m hIlltops. a common table was set in fha great hall, whereat the knight and hIs retainers all ate together. About midway the table stood vase containing from one to three quarts of salt: the salt howl was passed from hand to hand, esch feaster. with knife or fingers. help ing himself to what he needed, and after tbe nonderous vase had gone round the tabla It was replaced in the centre. Eat