Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-10-30
soldiers ARE
SUpERST|TIOUS
British War Museum Official Digs
Up Some interesting
Information.
NE:.'alY ALL WEIR hHULETS
One Officer Carrying Charm Refuses to
Reveal it, Mature for Fear OF
Bad Luck-knct her Carries
Piece of Coal.

Iandon.-Certain interesting suner.
stit!ras III eva,, among British colo
~. troops at the front are described 10y
E.;.ward Luvct.. an official Of the I'm
lv. .l War museum at London, In the
Mm,u,ng PoNt. He says:
',,any of the superstitions held by
Ir.t..!l soldiers are also held by our
tc;>I'.> from overseas and by men OF
th.. :, lied forces. One day ] happened
to III, Il an Australian soldier who wore
the Il-ure 5 on the collar OF his tune.
This ) is known on III" continent as
ia" t.. ntad. and III Belgium the Fifth
+, :tl"nt is considered to bn the lucky
rrs.i!...nt. The loe.e of the pentad is
a. fellows: Figure | stands for God.
absolutely alnnc Figure is the mind
Nyni'i, of nature. Figure . represents
suan ::S the highest work of God TAX
inc. therefore. figure | as beng 'iniIue,
"hc figures . and 3. that is, Go& : work
in I'll. hands Of man, equal s, and this
:, is said to represent everything. In
slfs country we DO not fully appreciate
she meaning of the figure 3.
Lucky Austr allan Five.
'"I'o come back TO our Australian sol.
cii.r. lie told IN. that lie knew nothing
az tie Pentud, and he was rather In
Giins / TO sheer at luck in general. But
tt told me that his company. which
was the Fifth, was very lucky. and day
after day the men had many narrow
escapes from death or wounds. The
company. in fact, had lost only Is men
out Of $50, while the Second company
had lost much larger proportion. He
also told me that the No. 13 was con.
>i1rcd by them lucky number, ana
annst Of the men in the Fifth company,
curinuSly enough, lad IL in their .regi.
men;al numbers, his own number be-
ing 1927.
ION one occasion, after lecturing TO
som, men from New Zealand and Aus
tral:ii. / was entertained for the night
ard put up in All officers hut. Before
turu.lg in l chntted over the subject
81 folklore and soldiers maScotS with
.nsr Ulcers. One of the officers told
me- :gat he carried charm. and said
] would like to know what it was. II
turned out TO be simply Swastika,
whirh was apparently new 10 him, and
H" vas glad to hear more about it.
rIhr second officer took from his pocket
At :'t.r.ll cross of grotesque form, which,
he Informed me- was his mascot. The
flii,i officer langhingly added, "Well, ]
AZ eh wan
only piece of coal, wrapped in a little
bag which / brought over from Aus.
tral;:l." The fourth (and this to my
n>tn. Shmrnt. being the highest pos
sibie') said, II also have mascot, but
| reese; to say that l don't intend to
Shnw il to you. ! won't even tell you
ailat it is, because it would spoil my
luz" Nothing | could say would in
.urr aim to alter his decision. His was
tll- l.;rSt SuperStitiouS case of all.
ne commOncSt charms among the
SolG., rs of France and Belgium are
mace of aluminium and copper frng-
m"!.t; Of German shells. 1t is cOnsid-
ei"i, ,nlt if you wear piece of an
ei.rmy'S prOjectile it inoculateS you
SOUS. In Italy the men wore the
Kinds Of charms and amuets which
have been common in that country for
iunu, generations-even centuries, /
may ;ty. They consist chiefly of phal-
liz tu.b:.nis. and may be seen by thou
san. in the streets and markets of
Nti... especially.
what the Germans Wear.
~ hnve Il number of examples Of
Gr.. u charms, some of which were
ta!"n rom German prisoners, while
uthr! we're collected by myself in Ger
I,airN about II years ago. They are
o. = haracter you might expect from
*rri a people, and consist largely of
pigs, Many of which, / regret to say,
:.Jr grossly vulgar and offensive. An
T. i,"I German charm is smai model of
u iun. .ua. which is of natural blOOd-red
corr. This Is really phallic emblem.
Il IL, ID kind is a teetOtunl, the mean
ing ol which is Chance On the other
hand. in the German navy, or what re-
mains of it, they have rather pretty
charn. 1t consists of a small, cheap
medal, bearing the figure of Christ
sitting the tempest, with the motto
'SaIety In storms l gathered from
several Of my friends that the charms
III conmon use by the Germans were
generally small objects, such as l have
mpr.iencd, which had been presented
10 ib~ wcarers by their mothers or sis
tiers. hpt ill few cases had the charm
any definite logical meaning.