The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13

most excusabla of the whole list. Ami 1 nal superstitions have in large uiSaS- ure. their origin in the nature. habits. | or characteristics or appearance Of the animals themselves. The toad. for in-
 stance. has always been In iil favor. He | is far from good looking. bis habits are bad; he is, in the popular mind. closely associated with the serpent family far whom al mankind, from the Garden Of
 Eden to the present day. has had ani- | versal detestation. Tn describing Satan
 tempting Eve, Milton could find no more
 appropriate figure than to hken him to
 a toad squatting at the ear of the mother
 of mankind, whispering evil suggestions | into her innocent mind. The astrolo8eres
 are, however. partly responsible for the | unpopularity of the toad. Toads and frogs dressed in green and red velvet were the soothsayer's assistants In his tHlcanta- tons. In usefulnes. they rivalled the black cat, the InsepRrable compaion Of the witch. The snealking treaohery of the cat has always made 1t an evil 0nneEs
 black is an unlucky color, so Is yellow and the black coat of the cat, combined with It's yellow eyes, treacher0us habits, and unsparing cruelty, always made 1t detestable among the superstition makers. and those who followed thstr lead. In India the place of the cat in folklore, has @eeC~ E-N~ by the monkey in high latitudes. the fox bears the burden of Iniquity which among the people of temperate ciiues has been loaded on the cat
 The horse and the dog are lucky, 60 also is the COW. Their usefulness has made them fortunate and even the shoe of a horse a lucky metal. Associated with an animal of good omen, shares the reputation of the horse.
 Rtt-m a..l.. .8A -v~k ka1S. may often be traced to the uses made
 of the plant, It's foliage or flowers. Among
 the Greeks the bodies of the dead were covered with parsley. He will be in need of parsley" was . euphemism sig
 nifying a belief in the approaching death of the person indicated. A Greek army
 marching to attack an enemy was almost stampeded by meeting two mules loaded with parsley. We have no parsley super Etttion; its uses az a vegetable has caus- ed its employment as a funeral plant to be abandoned.
 Behind all superstition. however, of whatever character. turks the grim sus- piclon that. in some way unknown to us, nature sees it to notify her children of good or evil to come. A desire to ltft the veil and ascertain what the future has in store amounts almost to a pas- sion. We know nothing of what iS to COHtos J aS nut pfunADtS SHat III blt8 respect that we shah ever be wiser, and yet, although assured by reason that fore knowledge Is always beyond our power.
 we cannot resist the temptation to avail
 ourselves of any means which gives even
 remote hope of enabling us to look into the darkness which clouds our vision. The
 universal desire is the source of all super l stition. In every mind there is a half ] conscious, half-expfessed belief, that ! could we only read the signs vOuchsafed by nature the book of our future life
 would be an easily tegible as the pages of
 our past. As Shakespeare says; There is a history in all mems lives. l Figuring the nature of the times deceased The which observed, a man may prophecy With a near aim, of the main chance of things
 As yet not come to life; which in their seeds
 And weak beginnings lie entreasuTed.