Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-30
LUCK GOES BY LAW
Four-Leaf CIOvers Are Foolish sHd
'Thirteea" L. Not Always
Hoodoo.

"of the many popular superstitions Of the
day which have been handed down from
the dark ages. when Ignorance was rife
and belief in ornens was az hxed IS the
religion Of the times. the adherence to sew
eral Of the most common lie worthy OF
analysis" remarked q member OF the fac
ulty of one OF the local universities to q
Washington Star reporter.
Il have given the subject considerable
study and research and I have come to
the conclusion that good luck or bad
luck which may follow the possession OF
certain symbols, or which may result from
the performance or the non-perormance
of certain acts at particular times. may be
attributed to the operation OF the law Of
condolences. and the good fortune or the
bad fortune, as the case may be, would
have resulted In any event.
II Will give you an easy Illustration of
the operation OF the law Of condolences as
applied to a symbolical number that will
be quickly understood, but Il illustrates the
principle even better than were an alb
struse proposition offered. During the past
summer q horse which had been running q
consistent last in the races in which he
had been entered on the tracks around
New York, won one day at the remuner-
alive odds Of 100 to ], and his owner, who
had backed him for sentimental reasons
for small amount, naturally cleaned up
considerable sum
This horses number on the racing pro-
gram was 13 It IL well known that the
racing fraternity In a superstitious one, and
the fact that this horse won at such large
odds while carrying the number 10 was
duly exploited In the racing papers. fol-
lowed this case UP and found that there
ia al ha rartpa
program bearing the number ls were we'll
played for this reason alone; that within
a week another horse bearing the
number 10 again won at considerable odds,
but that thereafter for several weeks dur
ing which I had the instance followed no
other horse bearing the number 10 came In
first
Both the first and the second horse, OF
course, would have won these particular
races whether their numbers had been .
or 8, respectively, OF any other number
upon the program. and their winning, while
bearing the alleged boodoo' number Of Is
was merely coinoidental to their entry and
their getting under the wire first, yet so
powerful is popular superstition that the
minds of otherwise sane individuals were
swayed by the coincidental application of
a number to a horses circuit around a race
| course.
THE same principle holds true to the
horseshoe superstition, the four-leaf clover
| fallacy, the rabbit foot idiocy and the
| bright, new penny delusion. In touring
! through the country. II one will take the
| trouble to observe, he will note that a
| horseshoe. and sometimes several OF them,
| may be seen tackled up over the doorways
or upon barn doors of abandoned homes
! and farms or tumble-down abodes. and
very often the more ramshackle the place is
| the more horseshoes or symbols OF good
| luck may be seen plastered over the place.
| Sometimes the heel OF the shoe is up. to
! hold the good luck in. and again II will
| be reversed which position some people
think let's the good luck out. But the
| evidences OF failure and dilapidation are
| indisputable, and the fact that horseshoes
| may also be seen tackled upon premises
where thrift is evident proves nothing. as
| a matter Of fact, beyond that certain pieces
| OF curved metal are held in position on
| wood by their nails.
| cit is the same with the four-leaf clover.
which is merely freak Of nature, as a
! twin tree, though this fallacy IL somewhat
sentimental and may be accepted for this
| reason by the young. The rabbits foot's
| power to bestow good fortune upon its
| possessor IL. OF course. too absurd to merit
| analysis, while the bright new penny fancy
| Is a good one to hand out to chiidren-wlth
| the penny"