The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-01-22
SALTWATER MINNESOTA, fTHURsDAY.


days it was dedicated to Olwen, the
Celtic Venus, and through the ages the
plant and the tender passion were
rather intimately entwined. Kissing
beneath it began so far back in history
that no one has ever attempted to trace
the custom to its youth. The mistletoe
almost never grows on oak trees, hence
an oak tree on which mistletoe grew
was especially reverenced, because the
appearance of the plant was taken to
be a miraculous sign that the gods
were pleased.
Souvenirs from executions are in
great demand rs voodoos and in certain
parts of Europe the uneducated classes
will scramble for the blood of beheaded
criminals, believing it will remove un-
slightly birthmarks.
Monuments, cenotaphs and columns,
history and legend, romance and
poetry are filled with descriptions of
great and illustrious omens. Thus
Cleopatra verified the eulogy of the
blind Nubian on the exquisite death
sting of the asp. Thotmes H., 5000
years ago, married his own sister, pre-
sumably to share the ownership of a
white bat invested by the ancient
Egyptians as an oracle. The 'beok of
the dead" says this superhuman bat
would trace with its wings on the be-
sooted walls the answers to weighty
questions. Charles XII carried ever
a spent bullet, caught in his pinned up
coat. Pappenheim, the great Austrian
general, carried a spike; Napoleon
golden thimble and Admiral Nelson an
ivory lotus blossom. Gustavus Adolf
phus V. wore as an amulet one half
of a cylindrical carbuncle, the other half
being on the finger of his councillor of
state. Only two are known to have
been in existence. The other one, still
whole, has been in the royal family Of
Denmark since Waldemar Atterdag,
who in the latter half of the thirteenth
century got it in the sacking of Wisby,
known to fame as the "Pearl of the
Baltic" Queen Victoria is said to
have ever worn miniature lion made of
a lions jawbone, and Bismarck, the iron
ruler, chose for an amulet the skull of
a tiny ape. The word Mizpah is bla-
Zoned on the hearth of many home
and legions could be cited who wear
and believe in some fetich,
When we consider that three billions
of the human family perish every hun
dred years, it does not look so improba-.
BILE that a hundred million dollars in
coin disappears every century. The
most of this goes for souvenirs, such
as bangles for bracelets, rings, pins,
ornaments, and pocket pieces. During
the late unpleasantness with China,
five million pieces of Chinese money
were taken out of that country by the
soldiers for souvenirs. Thousands of
imitation swords, each made up of
about 500 pieces of coin, each coin
being perforated in the center, were
taken as plunder or bought and brought
away. Every emigrant has in his
pockets some copper coins, that are
too small to exchange and so he keeps
them or gives them away to his friends
for luck pieces. To be sure, great
deal IF money is buried or otherwise
lost, but mankind in general believes
it lucky to carry certain piece of
money, that thus vanishes from cir
culation. The two million Columbian
half dollars, coined to commemorate
the Worlds Fair in 1892, have nearly
disappeared from commerce, and are
worth today $120. Undoubtedly most
plugged coins we find in circulation
have lost their value as charms, and
their owners consequently desired to
get rid of them and have done it in a
petty way. Contemplating the great
forces that have been at work in this
world, the mighty changes that have
been wrought in human affairs, and
then reviewing the insignificant objects
that have caused many successes and
many failures, we wonder hew civil
lized man of today can beguile himself
to set such store by simple charm.
but such is nevertheless fact. What
we need most is faith, and so long as
amulets give confidence to the wearer,
luck charms will continue to be in
evidence.
The ideal truth, the reward of mar
tyrS, the climax of olden sagas and the
golden text to infantile comprehension
is, that good conquers in the end,
and not evil! /. ID.