The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-02-05

- II W - ERE, don WALK under tdt lauuep L heiu" "NH" ~ HA
= y ~ the other day on Academy street =
AA "Nvhy not?" asked her companion, Nho seemd inclined to 6 o
Immediately and do it, as there still another o. your supersdtons auached
to the Door nonensive 1adder?'
1 followed slowly, for l was interested in ferretng out human ra"Nes' "d
foresaw some food for meditation.
"No, but it really is sure to bring misfortune" said the hsts speaker !
never walked under a ladder but nee and that a the la before nat real
satsuna vae was broken, and I've never dared to walk under a adder SINCE
Stuff and nonsense" retoted speaker number two, You "oppo ne
vase yourself and it seems o me that walking outside the ladder the Ia De-
fore would not have saved it. You are nearly a nervous wreck nov Mary,
from induging in your foolish beliefs. and l. for one htene &c feach a green
and peaceful old age by letting what is going to happen happen and not worry
over supernatural causes
And then. what do GU suppose that very person did? A pin was lying IN
the sidewalk, and she turned around SO that she might pick it up with the head
towards her. And Sc it goesw with all Of US. We pooh-pooh the foolish pehefs
of or friends, and yet who If IS does not barber some little faint fear OF
condolences deep down in our consciousness? We are supposed to be
sensible people yet who does lot involuntarV hesitate about stms at upe
with tewlye friends. Yet it is lot unreasonable to suppose nat turing d year
som one of such a large number should be taken away. But that is lot on
sdemd. 1t is the awful number thirteen. and so up@stfton onunue TO
such degree that certain people will not live in a house of tina number or
ride in a street car with figures tht add up to thirteen.
The housewife watches the eat washing her ears and prepares for com
many. The sur sets clear IN Friday night and we look for rain before Mon
Iday. We put the scissors under our pillows to cur rheumatism. we turn
around three times and sit down when returnng or d lrso'" rA"e''
etc. etc, ad inhnhum.
And what is superstition. where did it com from and why is it inherent
in each no of us? 1t seems to be outsrowth Of Ntchcraft, nj the n
chnt belief in demons who were supposed to hold a middle place tive
men and the celestial deuies. They played al important part IN the Oldest
religions Of h East, and were an element in the worships oft the primitive
races. They were supposed to freten good or bad news and sometimes De-
came the guarding geniuses of men,, man1festn themselves III an'S anu
even inanimate objects. Usually each person ws attended by a goods n an
evil genius. In the ancient Egyptian religion Typhon Cor sd) vas the mani
CESSATION of he idea Of evil while Osiris was that of good, and they are
abundanty illustrated in the early sculptures.
In Homer they are not distinguished from the gods md the names ar
applied to the oympAn divmnhes. From these there developed the different
spirits which controlled the actions of men and women, who were called
wizards and witches. In later days poor Innocent people believed to be pos-
sesscd of these evil spirits were put to death by their townspeope excited
v a frenzy of fear. In or W New England, this was exemphhed in the
torture Of the Salem witches two hundred years ago We are glad to feel
we will. in the linn dismnt future lose our pet supersttiOns and live logically
and in order.