Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-07-13
Some Old Superstitions
Signs and Omens Play Large Part in the Lives
of Many People

Whittier embodied in his poem.
Telling the Bees an old New Eng
land practice based on the belief that
a failure to inform the bees of a d.atn
In the family would lead to their dy-
ing or flying away. Shake apeare's
weird sisters in Macbeth illustrate the
former faith that the number three
and its multiple nine were indespens-
able 10 the successful working Of the
magician's art. Tales of Sou nern
and darby life around the alhsions
to the entertainments, charm and secret
rites of the voodoos To these the
left hind foot of a rabbit possesses
miraculous power, and others than
Southern darkies have been known
10 carry such as lucky talisman.
Certain classes or professions Of
men are supposed to be especially
superstition. Gamblers. actors and
sailors are cited as being pee lliarly
susceptible, exceptionally ere6ulous
so far as charms and talisLlaLs,
hoodoos and mascots are concerned
An entire volume is devoted to the
legends, sounds and signs which the
old-time sailor noted, though modern
mechanical inventions giving man
greater command of the forces of both
4 water and air have tended to make
Jack Tar less prey to fancies con-
corning the Vastly deeps of sky and
sea in which he passes his life,
Plutarch in an article on "Supersti-
ton said that It showed mans belief
in the gods, but, while believing, he
believed in their unfriendliness. And
most of the superstitions e1nbody be-
lief in the unfriendliness of unknown
powers, and so superstitions are nat
urally more prevalent among the ig-
norant and simple than among the cul-
tured and intelligent. Yet many sto-
ries are told showing that men Of
high development have felt that the
little daylight region of knowledge
which human kind has wrested from
the great sphere of the unknown is.
very small and that there are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philoso-
ply"
Barry O'Brien says that Parnell, the
Irish leader would not pass another
person on the stair; was horror
stricken to find himself sitting with
three lighted candles; that the fall of
a picture made him detected for the
entire afternoon, and that he would
have nothing to say to An important
bill because it happened to contain 10
clauses"
Presentiments or warnings in dreams
received by those not to be classed
among the ignorant have been re-
corded in more than one biographical
sketch. A friend of Abraham Lincoln
is authority for this story told in Lin
coins own words: 1T was just after
my election in 1860, when the news
had been coming in thick and fast all
day aud there mad been great
'hurrah, boys so that | was well tired
out and went home TO rest, throwing
myself down on lounge in my cham
Der Opposite where i lay was
bureau with a swinging glass upon It,
and. looking in that glass, saw my
self reflected nearly at full length, but
my face, noticed, had two seperate
and distinct images, the tip of the
nose of one being about three inches
from the tip of the other. / was a
little bothered, perhaps startled, and
got up and looked in the glass, but
the Illusion vanished On lying down
again. saw it a second time, palmer
if possible than before, and then
noticed that one of the faces was a.
little paler than the other. ! got up
;. and the thing melted away, and
went off and in the excitement of the
hour forgot all about it-nearly, but
not quite, for the thing would once
in while come up and give me 2
i little pang as if something uncomfort~
able had happened. When | went home
again that night / told my wife about
it, and few days afterward made
the experiment again; but never
/ succeeded in bringing the ghost back
after that, though I once tried very
industriously to show it to my WIFE,,
who was somewhat worried about =.
She thought it was h sign that was
to be elected to a second term of Of
fee. and that the paleness of one or
the faces was an omen that | should
not see life through the last term.
Richard Mansfield often told OF
dream which was so vivid that ne
arose and packed his travelling bag in
obedience to it. and that few mo-
ments after the dream was acted out
/ in real life. The secretary of D'Oyiey
Carte appeared as he had in the
| dream. and ASKED if he, Mansfield
could rejoin the company from which
he hae been expecting the man, and
was all READY
So define superstition as you viii,
as overbelief in the unfriendliness of
unmeasured forces. under belief IN
the kindness of the omnipotent side
or superHrous belief, the fact remains
that it still holds many men in bond
ags. Man moves from the unknown
to the unknown, and the mystery OF
the whence and whittier casts spell
/ over his emotions and his imagination
/ Striving to dispel it the man Of the
twentieth century often turns to the'
remains Of dead and buried faiths o.
the past, proving himself inheritor OF
the experiences of a race which has
known fear