The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-01-22
A Universal Posses
sion.
Paper Read Before the Chautauqua Circle.

EIHERE q is no human being so
poor, forsaken or isolated that
it is not within his reach to
own a luck charm. 1t makes
no difference what his color, caste or
nationality may be, whether old OF
young, rich or poor, ignorant or edu-
Gated, it is there to be had for the
making, depending entirely on it's
superior embellishments by the faith
the owner places upon it.
Luck charms, known also under
many other names, such as fetiches,
amulets, mascots, voodoos, talismans,
ETC., are many and varied. In truth
can it be said they reach from the
ridiculous to the sublime. 70 go back
as far as Noah's time, we have the
rainbow as symbol of Gods covenant.
In the Bible of Bodhisatwa (born to
the virgin Maya, 1927 years before
Christi, eread thai" his lBodhisatwa's)
tears turned into crystals SO clear and
hard that men treasured them above
all their earthly possessions
The greatest mascot on earth today
is surely the Flag. A battle is nearly
lost, despair enters the ranks where fear
already is f1akfng-s havoc, when 10! a
daredevil seizes the standard and rush
ing far to the front, plants the flowing
signal on promontory and behold
the battle is turned; hope is supreme,
as cheer after cheer proclaim the
fortunes of war.
Every warship in the late war, as
well as every regiment, had mascot
of one kind or another, and we find
every baseball club, football team,
racing stable and most athletic organiza-
tions carrying one, for no other purpose
than to bring good luck. Il know a
newspaper called the Mascot, but you
are considered very lucky indeed if
your name does. not appear on its
pages) The Egyptians, since time
immemorial, have held the sacred
scarab@us the most potent amulet in
conjunction with the lotus flower. The
Irish choose for their symbol the sham
rock and the Swedes hold the petriied
trilobite as fetch par excellence The
Indians have long believed elk teeth
possessed of magic charms. An Indian
woman on the Missouri river in South
Dakota showed me a garment, presum-
ably coat once belonging to a great
chief, literally covered with them. It
held 2,621 elk teeth and could not be
bought for love or money
The collective heart is touched, in
spired, animated! nature, as some
theOlOgians maintain, is cruel, evil,
hurtful; but she is never coarse, nor
foul in our conception, and her beauty
appeals to us against our will. Is it to
be wondered at that the person who
finds four leaf clover is certain of its
proverbially luck-giying qualities :?
Who has not heard, if not sung, "I
found horseshoe?" Who does not
know what store the southern darkey
sets by his rabbits foot and its grew
some acquisition, in his "seven come
eleven?" Gamblers, as rule, always,
carry a voodoo, supposed to keep other
peoples Ill luck away. One out of
every ten men in Arizona, New Mexico
and southern California, carries for
good luck small musical instrumunt,
discordant to be sure, consisting of
seven small rings, formerly the ap-
pendix to the small end of rattle
snake.
The monetary value of a luck charm
is a secondary consideration, a pebble
being as valuable as an opal, and SO it
is--to nature. The mystic mistletoe
was believed by the early physicians
to be remedy for all ills, physical,
mental and sentimental. In pagan