The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-10-11
PLEA TO THE MOON
REAL MEANING or THE PLACING
or A HORSESHOE.
Origin Of Superstition Can Be Traced
to That souree-For Protection
Against Troublesome
Evils.

ID the picking Up or a horseshoe
vas walking along with a country
bred boy along a Somerset lane and
saw one lying in the crumbling sum-
mer rut- There Is a horseshoe" said
l. The lad sprang forward, but
stopped suddenly before his fingers
touched the iron But | won't pick
Il up, said he. -or l shall spoil your
luck Il may perhaps have been
only point Of etiquette, but he as
sured me that a horseshoe of my
finding could bring luck neither to
him nor to me If he touched it before
me-
The origin Of this superstition, now
lingering chiefly as a saying and a
Jest, is perhaps earlier than the
horseshoe, and has nothing whatever
10 do with it. 1t was from the infu-
ence Of the new moon that good was
TO be expected. and still there are
some who turn the money in their
pockets when they first see her in the
sky. The early horseshoe was a
simple crescent. and the superstition
has fingered around an object that
at first was only a convenient sym
boil
1t was to the protection Of some
moon goddess, therefore, that the
householder first trusted when he
kept the witch out Of his dwelling by
hanging a 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
symbol Even the pixies. who brought
certain whimsical merriment into
their practical joking. were no good
In the face OF that. Cheated out of
their nocturnal rides they might as
well retire underground at once If
a horseshoe barred their entry to the
stable.
For these troublesome elves. in days
gone by, had a 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 "all terrified like. an out in
a lather O sweat" And they had
even a worse trick than this. They
would get at the good wife's vat and
wantonly spoil the brew. To pre-
vent this she drew with her finger
two hearts, and a crisscross upon the
mash. and thus the beer was saved.
Whether crescent or cross, no mat
ter. The pixies would stink 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
-agers do but put them up for a
whim, or in the same half-iocular
spirit, yet with a secret
too, In which so many
If us perform obsolete practices Just
or luck" And why not /, who find
! secret delight in its forgotten sig
lificance7
1t was rusty, with crooked
lorse nail still hanging in one
# the holes. There are some who
hink there is virtue in the rust
,ut that Is nonsense. / polished
nine until it was bright as the sill
er moon, and, indeed, might almost
70 mistaken for the medal sacred
Didhd. AuSiS ID q iiBht way anu
wrong in putting up the horse
hoe on your door. One thing is
thoroughly established; If you turn
. upside down, it cannot hold your
lck
And where ought it to be placed?
The old world folk often nailed it
n the threshold. The growing moon
as her horns always toward the left.
I'd only on the wane does he point
lem to the right. ] would have this
true crescent, waxing every day
ondon Standard.