Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-08-18
BELIEF In "sIGNS"
EDITOR GIVES OUT
ASTONISHING INFORMATION.
Curious Superstitions Stick in the
CraW of Every People-Haif Stu
dents in Big University Be-
Ieve in Omens.

Reversing the usual order Of things
a southern educator went north the
other day and told a Washington au-
d1ence some things to convince themI
that men south of Mason and Dfxon'si
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 it's
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 event
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 southernf
universities. The name of the institu-
ton. 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 superstitiousg
students.
The experiments In question coz
cerned popular signs" The Students
wrote out all the superstitions 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-les-.
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 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
dropped the kitchen dish rag they
would soon have company. Others held
that the man who carried potato i'm
his pocket would never have rheuma-
tism, while a large number believed
that when a dog howled death in the
family was impending. There we're
others as grotesque and as absurd
as these.
The amazing thing about the whole
affair was that so many of the stu
dents believed in these superstitions-
Some 875 students were examined, and
of this number 45 per cent. believed in
superstitions which numbered some
5000. Perhaps even larger percent7
age of the students believed in soma
superstitions, or at least partly be-
lieved in them. Not half the mem
were free from some belief in signs
and omens.
These are the facts that admit of no.
dispute Men believe where they should
not believe, and that Is all there is to-
it. Their fathers believed before them.
and their fathers before them, as far
as history Is recorded, as far as ira
dition runs. Some of these same legends
were believed when Aryan ancestors
watched the heavens in the steppes or
Central Asia, others were believed
when the German tribes came into
Europe; the Catholic saints believed
them and the Greek heroes observed
them, the Anglo Saxons followed them.
and the Africans in the center of the
dark continent watched them day by
day.
Civilization may move on, and mem
may be wiser than their sires. but
there is something In the mind Of man
that makes him believe where his
reason doubts and his sane mind SCOTS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch.