Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-06

seldom was believed to have created
the first horse. when he struck the
ground with his trident and a horse
| sprang from the hole, which afterwar6
became a spring. To him all springs
were ascribed. In the shape of q
horse he sometimes wandered by the
shores of his ocean domain, and where
he struck his hoofs deeply there the
waters gushed out and permanent
springs were formed.
This is the reason why horseshoes
are reclSoned lucky. Going to the root
of the matter, one sees Il nature myth
as the underlying principle From the
sea all rain comes, and To the sea all
springs owe their primal origin. And
to the rain and fresh waters, sea de-
rived, we owe all fertility on earth.
The old Greeks therefore worshipped
Poseidon as the fortune giyer through
his springs. They gave him horses and
they adured the footprints of horses
when they found them, for they might
be the very footprints of the god him.
self.
When horses came to be shod. the
transition of The luck emblem from
the footprints itself to the shoe mark
practically the same thing-was
easy. Pegasus, the winged horse,
from whose hoofs the water springs
gushed copiously when he came TO
earth, has been credited with the
horseshoe luck.
Some legends called him the son of
Poseidon. and therefore gifted by his
father with power to call the waters
from the earth. Other legends state
that. Pegasus sprang from the trunk
of Gorgon Medusa after Perseus had
cut off her head. He had the power
of producing famous springs which
gave the gift of pcesy, of art Of intel
leetual powers. From these springs
the muses. drank freely.
The horseshoe was a specific against
earthquakes. II would keep a house
safe from harm by earth shaking
Again one pereeives the sea myth
Peseidon was the shaker of the earth.
There is no superstition more deep
ly ingrained in all classes of society
than that which is attached To the
horseshoe. As an emblem of good for
time it holds pride of place, Nelson
did not disdain TO nail a horseshoe 10
the mast of the Victory. In the early
part of the nineteenth century the
horseshoe was highly priced, and there
were few American and English man.
sions where it was not displayed,
while humber folk were at great pains
to fasten it over their doors.
Horses were not shod either by the
Greeks or Romans The ancients were
content with wrapping fber cloth
round the feet of their horses in cold
weather, or when it was necessary to
pass through miry districts. Instead
of troubling about horseshoes they de-
voted their attention to hardening the
hoefs of their mounts.
Nero. who ever tried to outdistance
his contemporaries, caused his horses
TO be shod with silver, while his wife's
We're resplendent with gold. but in no
case were nails driven into the hoofs.
The practice of shoeing horses by
driving nails into the hoofs was in
troduced into England by William the
but such practice did net
make any Roadway for centuries.
The Indians, who had no superiors
as horsemen, never thought of shoeing
their horses in any way and yet they
were capable of performing remarka-
BILE journeys over the most difficult
Even at the present day in Japan
the modern horseshoe finds strong
in the old-fastioned san
dals made of straw which are fas-
tened to the horses hoofs after the
manner of equine Cricket shoes.
The Irish think that the reason for
the horseshoe's magical power is be-
cause the horse and the ass We're in
the stable where Christ was born
Aubrey, in his Remains of Gentii-z
isme." describes the horseshoe as a
against the mischief or
power of witches, attributing it's mag
zeal properties TO the astrological prin-
ciple that Mars, the god of war and
the war horse. was an enemy of Sat
urn who, according to medieval
idea. was the liege lord of witches.
The world moves and civilization
but the old superstitions
the same. The rusty horseshoe
found on the road is still priced as a
lucky token and will doubtless con-
tinue to be so priced. for human ma
ture does not change and superstition
is part of human Misunderstanding :
ton Post.