Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-11-17
STRANGE BELIEFs WE HOLD.
Man an imaginative Creature, Enter
tanning All manner Of wild FAI-
lAcies- some Reasonable

the wind. leaning ciliASh "Vf'''iS ~
that when he was boy he thought
the engineer had to steer the train
to keep It on the track. A young
writer, in his early childhood. De-
lieyed that everything that went on
in the world around him was q great
theatrical performance, staged nor
his special benefit.
These are what we call faliacies--
from the Latin verb fallere, " de-
ceiye As the psychologists tell US,
they come either by reasoning falsely
from correct premises, or reasoning
correctly from false premises Most
| Of them, especially children's, are by
reasoning falsely from correct prem
Ises. Children are likely to lave
Imagination. The imaginative per-
son wants to explain the natural phe-
nomena about him in the NOSE en-
| tertaIning and attractive way. the
matter.of-fact person, the hard-head-
| ed business man, seldom has any fal-
lacies. what he has are all dequced
| BY reasoning correctly from wrong
1 premises. n
The world Is full Of fallacieE i
4 tirely apart from the great mass q
sunerstitions, which in themselves
form class. A little knowledge
is 4 dangerous thing, and assuper-
fetal. knowledge of the sciences will
cause people to believe that the earth
is cooky-shaped (this fallacy is fair'
/ " out Of date nowl, or that orchids
| live on air, or that salamanders car
really live In fire. Other weird be
| lIefs run parallel course with tht
| materia medica; for instance thal
whooping cough can be cured py leu
ting a piebald horse breathe on tn
child. or that measles can be cure'
by taking the child through thre'
parishes in day
Weather is the subject Of auan
titles OF absurd theories, anon
which some people rank first the ide
that the government forecasteIs Ca
nradict II. There is a belief tha
mild winters follow a mild Decen
!, ber--an unpleasant augury, iftru'
for some years. There wei
those firing Of cannon and explodin
/. aerial bombs some years ago to mai
! rain fall on the thirsty farm land
y We are even told now that our p
/ pets, the eQuinoctiaI storms, Ne y
4, creatures u The imagination Y,
IS Myths Of History ExplOdsd.
y History abounds in things viii
never happened. Wellington Tnev
ie said, CUP. Guards, and at the1ll"
the battle Of Waterloo. Dick Wh
4 tington never came to London WI
81 domestic animal called cat. "
= liam Tell never shot the apgle
" his sons head, and HoratiusS leN
y defended the bridge. The old stt
4, about Lady Godiya has been absOlu
I.a ~
~ " disproyed, Mount Ararat was !
~ mountain, but a region and Ad'
N ana Eve were never turned out Of
= Garden OF Eden.
u Cinderella Is said to have wt
glass clippers to the famous ball
which she made her reputation
u the, old Eastern version, she wore
slippers. The French translated
!. t'pantoufle en- war; and the Ehgl
translators mistook 1t for can't
lfs en- vsre.,' which 10 prOneun'
the. same. GRIP
Il IL harder to unlearn tn
than 70 learn II, People who b.
always slept with their windows q
ana Who se@ their ehIldren. pr
Ioa clothes for the winter are almost
yond hope. A. RuHslan-born q
lord.of an apartment house in Is
neighborhood once, when hia
ants complained TO him that
arb apartments we're cold, and he leaf
as that theS had their Windows Q
to open to sleep ~. said In Russia
ms seal the windows up on octObe
uid and don't open them again tillM'
70 Tenanent mothers think green
nanas ana stsong Yea are Bood
sdy Vhree.months-oid babies and
ItEpbsltlvely canno convince most
IN them that this is not so. ~
an fashions in baby culture change Z
'elf. scar to year. At least some q
eea, pretend TO think so--and there
leta have q pssudofallaey! How can
and expect the tenement mother 70
not ,feeainE her baby beer. when
Goa ueSenth edition Of bringing up
con- lie ones reyerses half the fse'
. rules of ne sixth edlticni)
c.ts sackine nsblea' REeath