Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-25
PERSONS FEAR TO PASS UNDER LADDER

- SA 10 ~ - 10 -
and grinned sheepishly as they did So.
The grins denoted that they knew that
they were yielding to a superstition and
that they were wondering If folks around
them were noticing that they were yield
ing to the superstition. lot OF them.
as they passed on the outside OF the lad
der, glanced in my direction-I was stand
ing in hallway, watching the thing-and
handed me a twinkle out of their eyes.
you're next to the fact that I'm no such
an idiot as to pass on the outside Of a lad
der. or under it, and l don't care durn
whether you're next to II or not-even II
I don't feel Hike coming right out and
owning up to everybody that I'm super
stitious"
NOW, there was a very tidy window
display in the shop in front of which the
ladder was placed-a window display
that at least nineteen people out of twen-
ty would have stopped to gaze at in ordi-
nary circumstances, If the ladder hadn't
been there. that is to say. But they
just tagged and passed up the window
display. these folks that walked around
the ladder without the least hesitation.
Probably these folks made up their minds
that they'd take peek at that window
display later on, when they were passing
that way again; but they sure and honest
ever on going under a ladder to see the
greatest little window display that ever
was displayed since the first day OF the
world
Then there were the reflective folks
and the absent-minded ones who came
smack-dab up to the ladder before they
were aware of it. 1t was the honest
Injun fun to study these.
Most of EN- when they got right up
to the ladder before having espied 1t
from a distance. started violently when.
looking up. they perceived they were right
on top of the ladder and on the side that
n ko
they moved another step or two. They
stopped as suddenly as if they'd found
themselves directly in front OF: a whizzing
automobile full OF joy riders. or as IL a
dropped out Of the caves md flown right
in their faces. Then, hopping back a
couple of PAGES, they'd go to the outside
OF the ladder, their expressions of alarm
disappearing as they looked around to
see If their move had been noticed. On
stopping and thinking it over, their ex-
pressons said this: Gee whiz. but didn't
l come near going under that ladder.
though! And wouldn't things have gone
Internally awry with me for a month o.
Sundays If I had gone under that fool
ladder" Then, on recovering themselves
in time and in walking on the outside of
the ladder, their expressions, as they
glanced furtively around to notice wheth-
err they'd been observed, appeared to say:
oh, well, let 'em see me! I'm not any
more superstitious than my neighbors.
and pinhead to walk under a ladder. / d
just like to know
"Quite a number Of them-women espe-
ciaIly-wouldnt notice the ladder until
they'd passed halfway or completely
under 1t. Then they'd come to with
start of positive shock and alarm and
look UP at the ladder with resentful gaze.
after which they'd wheel right around
and come back and go outside the lad
der. That. however, according to my
understanding of the case. is N. G. That
is to say, the hoodoo can't be Cancelled
by walking back and going around the
ladder the right way after you've once
gone under it. The thing is to see the
ladder first and go around it; to see it
after you've gone under it. and then try
to beat the devil around the stump by
retracing your footsteps and going the
proper way arohnd the ladder. is one of
those nix numbers, a thing that can't be
done: for the devil declines to be soft
soaped or coddled or bamboozled in any
such manner, according to all that I can
hear.
lone Of 'em, a burly. square jawed man
of middle age. brought himself to gem
uine military halt when fully three PAGES
away from the ladder. He came to the
standstill with his heels together and his
shoulders squared. and he stood and
looked at the ladder. which he'd only no.
ticed that instant, as II 1t were some
enemy of his seeking to block his way.
The mddle-aged man looked to be full
Of aggressiveness and choler as he stood
there ana EaZoQ at the ldOOeT.
He shook his head over 1t and NUT
tered to himself. l couldn't catch what
he was saying to himself, but I can just
about imagine. / imagine he was saying
to himself: Huh! Here's a ladder, hey?
Huh. Well. now I'm up against one OF
those imbecile old women's superstitions.
Huh! It's up to me, spose. to go
around the burned thing! But that would
perstition for a man of my age to make,
now wouldn't 1t? Huh! / believe I'll pass
right under the blanked ladder and defy
the superstition! Still. I've been hear
ing all my life about the bad luck that
follows when you walk under a ladder.
and I reckon. after all. that I'll have to-
er-well-
And then the middle-aged man.
glancing around sneakily to see IL he
was observed. and not seeing me on the
Job of watching. sort O. slouched his
squared shoulders forward little and
walked around the ladder in just as
the folks who walked around 1t with
out even thinking 1t over.
During the half hour that 1 watched
the moves of the people who came upon
it and sizing it up. deliberately and
with malice aforethought and vindic-
tiveness prepense, walked under it.
This one was an understood. dyspep-
a jerky. nervous gait. He bore right
down upon the ladder with his eyes
wide open. and he looked at the ladder
and at the people who were tagging
the neat window display in order Z"
pass around it; and then he shot right
forward in his jerky. nervous way. and
pa ssed under the ladder. and then. with
a sort of leer on his face. he turned
right around in his tracks and stuck
his thumb at his nose. and wiggled his
outspread fingers at the ladder as much
as to say: There. doggone you for
fool ladder. you didn't get me to walk
around, did you? And this is what
think of you? and he wiggled his nm
gers thumb still at nose, at the ladder
some more before passing on.
But we're none of us superstitious.
Oh. nix, no. Only don't put us to the
test, that's ALL"