The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-11-25
SUPERST|T|ONS CANNOT Be EXPLAINED
Some People Say There's Nothing in It," While 9th
ers Believe Friday Is Unucky.- The Superior
Silence Household Menace.

bodily assault. and when you have
stopped to give him an opportunity to
speak and he gaxes fixedly ut the gas
yourself against the wall and sarcasti-
cally permit him to descend.
1t may be. of course. that YOU real
~ are right but the next day, after
you have been feeling awfully ashan-
ed of yourself and sheepishly put your
head in the door and humble m
apology. he patronizingly forgives you
and says it is really no matter. That
he had paid no attention to it, Only
it would be we'll for you to- control
yourself when out in the world or you
may end in the bastile and disgrace
yourself and the whole family.
, You retire foaming at the mouth
and registering vow never to ask
any body's pardon again and consign-
ing this particular member Of your
household to the nether-world where
YOU give him full leave to remain un-
til the Great Day.
To return to superstitions. however.
! you can no more eradicate them than
/ you can change the color Of your eyes.
They are about as deeply rooted and M
inexplicable.
! The ranking of Friday. AZ an un-
| lucky day, and the thirteenth as an un-
fortunate date, is universal. Many ho-
tells leave the number thirteen out OF
their repertoire Of rooms. Whether 1t
is preposterous or not. the supersti-
ton is ubiquitous.
Friday is hangman's day.
Its placement as the unlucky day OF
the week is lost in what is sometimes
termed the mists of antiquity"
One man, who had regarded this day
as an unfortunate one upon which to
begin any venture and who had all
his life regarded 1t with . curious. SUI
perstitious fear, died a thousand miles
away from home, suddenly. and alone.
on a certain Friday.
One woman the writer knows Is
upset" every time she drops q spoon.
spoon dropped Is said to mean
disappointment. This woman has
found it to be invariably the rule that
when she drops a spoon she meets with
q disappointment. She swears this 10
true.
You can laugh it down. sheer, deride.
denounce-but you can't prove that
. there is nothing in it,
Strange are the manifestations OF
. life. You cannot Judge any person.
J any situation. any set Of alleged facts.
, by a hard and fast rule. When you
seek to measure everything by metes
and bounds. to say that SO and 90 IL
n,~I IL
merely declare your own limitations.
You can't draw a line and say that
+ all one side is to be classed on the
right and all on the other side classed
with the left.
, We know absolutely nothing at all.
, We have no possible comprehension
. OF the seemingly commonplace envtr-
, onment in which we are placed.
, What is more extraordinary, in in
stance, than the rise OF the sun every
, morning on schedule time and the
. recurrence OF the moon at stated peri
DDS.
What is more marvellous than the
:, cabbage growing in the garden. or
, the color Of your own hair.
What more amazing and entirely
, mystifying than the fact that you can
, move yourself around on your feet
.. or that you have two sets OF teeth. one
. that comes out at q stated age, an
other that comes in.
!. Can you explain why you are
= hungry? It's because, you say. the body
cries for sustenance. But why does
it cry for sustenance and what makes
it cry?
;, Can you explain what induces the
;, grass to grow, the flowers to bloom
the birds to sing? Why water flows
and fire burns! There are natural
laws, you observe. True, but what Il
. it that makes the law.
To tell the truth, while this 10 al
8 ineffective enough. we are just - IL
- norant of the laws that govern thu
sources of being, and its consequeu
- material and spiritual manifestations
. as we are of whether or not Friday II
q unlucky or IL you really do meet viii
a disappointment at the drop OF I
:. spoon.