The Forrest City times., 1906-10-05
PLEA TO THE MOON
REAL MEANING OF THE pIAcJNa
 OF A HORSESHOE.
Origin of Superstition Can Be Traced 10 mat Source-For Protection Against Troublesome
 Esils,

m the picking up of horseshoe. was walking along with a country. oieo boy along a Somerset lane and saw one lying in the crumbling sum. 'heF mt. There is a horseshoe" said l. Inc lad sprang forward. but stopped suddenly before his fingers touched the iron. But won't pick
 IL up' said he, "or 1 shall spoil your lacA It may perhaps have been oAly e point of etiquette. but he as- sured me that horseshoe of my hnelng could bring luck neither to nim Der 10 me if he touched it before me
 Ine origin of this superstition. now lingering chiefly as saying and test IS perhaps earlier than the horseshoe, and has nothing whatever co do with 1t. It was from the infu. =Aee of the new moon that good was 70 be expected, and still there are some who turn the money in their pocHets when they first see her in the sky. The early horseshoe was simple crescent. and the superstition aas fingered around an object that u hrst vas only a convenient sym 0ol.
 T Was to the protection of some n4oen goddess, therefore, that the householder first trusted when he kept the witch out of his dwelling by hanging horseshoe on the door. Neither spell nor malignant wish. nor the power of the evil eye could cross the threshold in the presence of her sym bol. Even the pixies, who brought certain whimsical merrment into their practical joking were no good n the face of that Cheated out of their nocturnal rides they might as well retire underground at once if 3 horseshoe barred their entry to the stable.
 For these troublesome elves, in days gone by, had d way of working the cattle by night for their own amuse- ment, and when the good man came in the morning he found the poor beasts eall terrified like. an ont in a lather O sweat And they had even worse trick than this They would get at the good wifes vat and wantonly spoil the brew. To pre- vent this she drew with her finger two hearts, and crisscross upon the mash, and thus the beer was saved Whether crescent or cross. no mat ter. The pixies would slink away abashed by the sign of it.
 To this day there are horseshoes on the doors of many cottages in quiet villages. Doubtless the cot tagers do but put them up for whim, or in the same halfjocular half-serious spirit, yet with a secret too, in which so many of us perform obsolete practices just for luck" And why not I, who find a secret delight in it's forgotten sig nificance?
 It was rusty, with crooked horse nail still hanging in one of the holes. There are some who think there is virtue in the rust. But that is nonsense. 1 polished mine until it was bright as the sil- yer moon. and, indeed, might almost be mistaken for the medal sacred to Diana. There is a right way and a wrong in putting up the horse shoe on your door One thing is thoroughly established; if you turn it upsice down, it cannot hold your luck.
 And where ought ft to be placed?
 The old world folk often nailed it on the threshold The growing moon has her horns always toward the left, and only on the wane does he point them to the right. I would have this a true crescent. waxing every day - London Standard