The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1910-08-26
BELIEF in "SIGNS"
SOUTHERN EDITOR GIVES OUT
ASTONISHING INFORMATION.
Curious Supersttlons Stick In the
craw Of Every People-Eialf Stu
dents In Big University Be-
lleVe In Omens.

Reversing the usual order Of things,
southern educator went north the
other day and told a Washington au-
dience some things to convince them
that men south of Mason and Dixon's
line occasionally have ideas, and good
ones at that The educator in ques-
ton talked about Suggestions on the
Psychology OF Superstitions, but his
speech was not nearly as heavy as its
title would indicate.
He was talking in plain terms, about
the curious superstitions that stick
In the craw Of every people, and asked
his audience why It was that even
educated peoples believe in things
which are utterly absurd on their face.
To prove that his question was a fair
one, he told of experiments recently
tried by him in one of the southern
universities. The name Of the institu-
tion, we may remark in passing, we
shall reserve for the present lest some
may be inclined to poke fun at it's
learned teachers and its superstiti0us
students.
The experiments In question con-
cerned popular signs" The students
wrote out all the superstltlons they re-
membered, and wrote under them
whether or not they believed in them.
The reports handed in by the college
boys were a revelation. Old folk-leg-
ends which had been handed down for
generations were recalled, and super
stitions that are probably as old as the
world itself were remembered by these
educated sons Of the twentieth century,
One boy, for example, expressed his
firm belief that if he picked his teeth
with a splinter taken from a tree that
had been struck by lightning he would
never have the toothache. A number
believed that hair cut at the time Of
the new moon would grow better than
at any other time, while many ex-
pressed their opinion that If they
the kitchen dish rag they
would soon have company. Others held
that the man who carried a potato in
his pocket would never have rheuma-
tism, while large number believed
that when a dog howled a death in the
family wasS impending. There were
others as grotesque and as absurd
as these.
The amazing thing about the whole
affair was that so many Of the stu
lents believed in these superstitions.
Some SIS students were examined, and .
If this number 45 per cent. believed in .
which numbered some .
}, 900. Perhaps even a larger percent. .
lge of the students believed in some .
or at least partly be-
ieved in them. Not half the men
we're free from some belief in signs
md omens.
These are the facts that admit of no
ispute. Men believe where they should
lot believe, and that is all there is to
Z. Their fathers believed before them,
nd their fathers before them, as far
IS history is recorded, as far as ira
ition runs. Some of these same legends
we're believed when Aryan ancestors
watched the heavens in the steppes of
central Asia, others were believed
rhen the German tribes came into
Europe; the Catholic saints believed
hem and the Greek heroes observed
hem, the Anglo -Saxons followed them,
nd the Africans in the center of the
ark continent watched them day by
ay
Civilization may move on, and men
lay be wiser than their sires, but
lere is something in the mind of man
lat makes him believe where his
9ason doubts and his sane mind SCOTS.
Richmond Times-Dispatch.