The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-03-21
Superstitions of
The Presidents.
They are Prone to Them. just
as Are Ordinary Citizens.

tNew York Evening SUM-
1t is Woodrow Wilson's pet officia.
superstition-say nay who will. Ane
it's also a scarfpin. \ talisman. VOL
know, needn't necessarily be a rabbit.
loot. 1t may be decorative as vel
as highly endowed with occult powe
to ward off evil and the Office seeker
And President Wilson's superstition
is centered around his scarfpin.
Not that he actually believes that
his new tie pin has mystic virtues: oh,
no-he is too intellectual a man for
that. Only there are those little ideas
which. if one does not quite believe,
cannot seem to forget. Such is
this pin.
When he was plain. ordinary prex
Of Princeton university he used to
wear the coat of arms of that institu-
ton smuggling in his cravat. He
thought it was lucky. AS of
New Jersey he wore the great seal of
the state engraved on a little gold disk.
And shortly after his Inauguration as
president he is going to put on a
scarfpin already ordered which bears
the coat of arms of the United States
would not part with his talisman for
a good deal, if they say the truth
not even on the advice of William Jen-
nings Bryan. .
Let none suppose that Woodrow
Wilson Is the only great man who
lends a sort Of credit to the supposed
influences of trifles. The popular be-
lief h a superstition is limited to sea-
men and rustics is all hunlbug. Many
a distinguished statesman and warrior
has had his billiken Of one sort or
q another.
General Grant. sone say. was a firm
believer in dreams. and a dream Of
crockery was I @ him the surest sign
of good luck. The night before he
received his appointment as colonel of
an Illinois regiment he dreamed Of be-
ing in q. field filed with beautiful
china. He Immediately. so the story
goes. informed his wife that prosperity
was to dawn upon their fortunes.
Abraham Lincoln also gave Gre
dence. to the phantoms that haunt the
pillow. =. few days before his death
he had a vivid dream in which he be.
held his own body lying in state. The
vision made a powerful impression on
his mind, and indeed he was rallied
on of it by his wife.
When Admiral Farragut's flagship
Was passing the forts at Mobile Bay
the admiral was at the masthead pray.
us " 1iNs > ~ ~ ny ootbtS
to have told of having heard a voice
saying. Keep OH: keep on!"
Secretary Carlisle shared the COM
mon distaste for Fridays. He would
begin no new thing on hat day. or
Secretary Blaine it is told that hi
would V turn back to enter his
house after leaving it in case he had
forgotten anything. Secretary Foleer
all his life had a presentment that the
mystic number 3 held Il charm for
him. He laughed at the idea. but II
nevertheless obsessed him.
Even so practical a statesman as
Thaddeus Stevens believed there was
luck in picking up pins. He eve
passed n II he saw It.
The great Bismarck had a horror
Of the unlucky number Is AZ Well AZ
of Friday. He would sit down
at q table where he made the thir-
teenth guest. Talking of a defeat the
Germans had experienced in the cam
paign OF 1890 he said: IL beg you to
observe. gentlemen. that hat happen
ed ON a Friday"
90