The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-18

uous will and steady hard work of the
subject"
To refer again to the swastika which
Prof. Petrie's prime minister wore for
good luck, doubtless few persons know
what swastika is. 1 asked for an ex-
PLANTATION from a rather highly edu-
Gated man the other day, and he said
he had never heard of such darn
thing. Yet it was one of his highly
educated friends who was wearing a
swastika
OF all the superstitions the swastika
is really the most fascinating and the
most poetic and the most ancient No
one of the most learned knows it's ori-
gin, yet volumes have been written
about it by learned persons not given
to superstition. 1t is supposed by some
to have originated in ancient Troy, but
it is all mystery. In the National
museum at Washington there is vol
ume by Prof. Thomas Wilson which
contains all the theories, mention of
all the mass of photography, but the
origin is yet left in mystery
IL it originated with Troy, 1t ex-
tended over all the world, for it is
found among the Buddhists. the Tibet
ans, the Chinese. the Koreans. in every
country in Europe, in many of the
states of the United States, and really
, in all of them. This Is somewhat OF
a repetition. but it emphasizes the uni
versatility of the swastika. meaning the
well being, the good fortune, the good
luck of human life. Who made the first
cabalistic figure or symbols will never
be known. The symbols have been
played upon as a musician plays upon
the magical keys of the most magical
instrument. The earliest figures OF the
symbolism have the most artistry.
While seeming to our American eyes
ri
so delicate, so expressive of mystery,
that 1t is no matter Of wonder that
even the learned scientist and educator
should have been charmed by them and
have worn them merely because they
We're so charming.
Without pictured illustrations they
could not be understood in their best
estate. The curves and gentle angles
are so delicate and fascinating they
cannot be described in words. No finer
tracery exists; more delicate than the
most delicate filigree, far finer than
the wonderful little terra Gotta figures
unearthed in the forgotten city of Tan
agra, and which are also thought to
have an occult significance. The very
form of them,- and there are many
forms. some of them of American de-
| sign, fascinates and invites to the use
of them, even among the unsupersti-
| tious, as a symbol of good fortune.
Among all the forms not single one
appears which is ungraceful or inartis-
| tic. This is as deep mystery as the
pyramids, deep as the mystery of the
evolution of the human race and all
the animal and reptile races and the
| race of the fishes of the waters that are
on and under the surface of the EARTH
| The assumption of many writer's in
regard to the swastika Is that this SYM
bolism represents the inmost thought,
| the spiritual self, the unb6unded fancy
! and ina gination in regard TO the un-
movable Who thought IL out, and
what transformation the symbolism has
undergone from ancient Greece to an
cient India, the sacred city of Tibet.
"the crest of the world" to America to
Alaska, to China, Japan, Korea, and
the rest of the world, will never be
known, but the fact Will remain that
the swastika Is the most universal and
fascinating of all superstitions as en-
bodying good fortune