The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1904-01-15
XIII.
SPIRIT AND sUPERSTI ION HUM
BUGS.
CONTINUED
XIII.

OF course that was all they could say.
There's no use" says l. ''of trying TO
chain down the devil. for as soon as you
git one chained down there are thousands
Of more that need the same thing done 10
them. and they are bred 80 fast you can't
keep up with the growth The only thing
to do is to head OF and destroy the conta-
g1on that devils are made out OF. which
think is the work carried on by the folks
calling themselves Modern Spiritualists.
and by persons who are foreveras stingly
carried away with superstition, and who
are always ataltn' about the unlucky
things that follow in the train Of such be-
liefs, both OF which have a mountain or
| influence that Is pestilential In the ex-
treme
"Spiritualists and superstitious folks are
pretty much all of one family for about
all they can see is moldy sepulchres and
graveyards, and ghosts. and hobgoblins,
and such like things And when the sun is
shining real bright and warm, 'taint
| nuthin' but moonlight TO them, and half
] the time 'taint as much as that for they
seem TO enjoy cropping around in the dark
feeling their way along dreadful slow, ter
ror-stricken all of the way. while II they'd
only open their eyes they'd git along ten
times as fast and have a real good time
! into the bargain. There nobody so blind
as those that won't see"
Then old Mrs. NNe got up and says:
NOBODY In this audience dares to chal-
lenge the fates by not needing the warn
Ing signs and wonders as they have been
handed down TO us from our forefathers
| and mothers Mrs. Wilberforce can pre-
tend to be very brave by poking fun at
these things, but when II comes TO oppos-
ing them she knows herself she dasnt do
IL! She can't deny I'll Folks that heed the
signs and wonders, and give them credit
Tor All that they mean are put down by
some people as superstitious beings
NOW. they are simply obeying a certain
law which Is very mysterious. which to
do otherwise would be showing lack of
wisdom. and anybody that can reason will
never try To chellenege the right OF any
| or the mysteries that are locked up in
| unlucky days, unlucky numbers seeing
OF the new moon over the right shoulder
breaking of n looking glass. rocking of
empty chairs, and so on She knows what
they signify. and she knows she dasn't
/ deny their mighty influence among the
| people of all nations"
We'll" says /, II don't feel very much
alarmed about the effects of signs and
wonders, for I'm not given to supersti-
tion. Now, / have no doubt that Mrs.
Nye is honest enough in her belief that
signs have a lot TO do with the success
and failures of her life and those of other
| lives. and so for tha sake of her and
others | propose to unravel this old ball
OF yarn that has made so much trouble
for folks for 80 many years, and which
has been so snared up nobody seems to
have ever got II reeled off as 10 amount
TO anything yet. Now I propose TO do
II right here before your face and eyes
go you'll all see there isn't any founds-
ton for any of the old signs and notions
that have scat folks nigh about to death
for more'n a thousand years.
Now, to begin with what makes an un-
lucky day7 There's no such thing You
may have misfortune befall you any day.
but there's no such thing as an unlucky
day, which on account of it's In
herited ill-luck makes IT dangerous for You
or I to undertake anything of conse-
auence on that day Friday has always
been the day set apart az the unlcky one.
How many people there are today who
never Will undertake to start new en-
terprise, or move into a another house or
go on Journey on Friday. That fateful
Friday! What gave ~ the nameP For
wears IL was the day set apart for hang
Ing people The day for execution! That
is what gave Il its hideous name II Mon
day had been chosen as the day for hang
ing while Friday would have been
splendid and Monday would have been
dreadful. So dreadful l guess we women
folks wouldn't dare 10 do our washings
until Tuesday for fear of something, and
nobody knows what
Talk about seeing the moon over the
right shoulder for good luck" says l.
What sense is there In that. Why, it's
the same old moon all Of the time. only
YOU see more or less of 1t as 1t ap-
proaches and recedes from the sun. And
what has your right shoulder or your left
shoulder got TO do with it7 Nothingl It's
the most senseless claim of ell OF the
lucky and unlucky talk that I've ever
heard OF The belief in such a thing In
vites calamity. B'or IL you think such an
| incident win help you in your business
| you naturally ease up In your endeavor
| to accomplish a given end thereby max
| ing a failure OF Il. Where as, II you had
continued an you began, you would have
succeeded.
Then SAYS l. there's the breaking
OF a looking-glass. Horriblei That al
ways means death TO somebody In the
family or some near relative or friend.
or some friends relative. There Is such
a long stride TO what IL means that you
can almost figure it out as coming true In
most every instance What gave ~ the
significance? This is H.
"When you look into an unbroken mir
| ror the full form Is there In all of its per-
| lection. hut when n ls smashed that per-
feet form dsa ppears. hence the belief
| that somebody Is goln' to die and dis
appear as the form disappeared In the
| broken mirror. Simple and foolish
enough But that IL the way IL came
about. Going TO take any more stock In
a.?
"'Comb your hair after dark will bring
sorrow 10 your heart Now. there's an
other sensocss saying Most girls that
work for n living must comb their hair
| IN the dark long enough before II comes
light. N they expect 10 have their hair
| cnn,bed at all. for most OF them I'm the
winter time get TO work pretty soon
after Sunrise. Now. 7 guess there won't
much sorrow come to folks that try TO
..-h ll..r