Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-08-03
STUDIES MASCOT ASPECT
OF BIC WORLD STRUGGLE
Question Of Soldiers Claim Holds
Fascination for Folklore Di-
rector of Museum.
SUPERSTITION HAS WIDE SWAY
Australian Private Hangs On to His
Figure 3 to Save Him From All
Harm That Might Come ON Battle
Field.
ny Forbes w. FAIRnAInN.

| Field.
ny Forbes w. FAIRBAII,N.
LONDON. August 2.-Just how far
saving his life? Did the boy who came
through the thickest Of the fray UNI
scathed owe his good fortune, to the
! son or Is the popular superstition
y whieh held sway in all armies mere
| These questions are discussed by Ed
ward Lovett. honorable curator Of the
! FOLK Lore section Of the Imperial Mu-
for a London publication. He makes
no direct comment on the value Of the
beliefs held by the lighters and the
almost religious awe with which they
regard their luckpieces
hcer by his swee,heart before he left
made by Mr. Lovett during a lecture
tour he made among the British and
Dominion troops In, France. This Of
to this Bit OF coal. and told of several
miraculous escapes he had during the
ment was SO superstitious about his
mascot that he refused to even tell
what 1t was.
Wouldn't Show Hin Charm.
would spoil my, luck" he told Mr..
Lovett. and the latter had to be con-
tent with that answer. Another Aus
fourth had a small gro,essue cross on
| his person to guard him against enemy
one of the most curious examples Of
superstition among troops was discov-
Australian private he met In London
This man wore in. figure go on me me
Lovet,. Il asked him If he knew the
legend that had grown UP around the
figure in the continental armies. He
! was rather .aciincd to sneer az luck
in general, but he told me that his
company, which, was the Fifth. was
very lucky. and day after day the
death or wounds: The COMPANY; in
1885, M npf lost the on fen me gut
also told me that the figure is was
and that most of the men in the Fifth
| company. curiously enough. had thir-
e 5esn IN 'SeF begE sss7 his
but i think the most. superstitious
case, Of all was that OF the officer who
was. Nothing I could say would in
duce him to alter his decision.
Lucky Fifth Regiment.
"Refer1lnE to the figure s sn IT Is
and the belgian soldiers consider the
Fifth Regiment the luckiest one in
is ise exceedingly cu H Gus and is explain
ed in the following manner:
Figure stands for God, absolutely
nature: ,hGure 8 represents man as
iheretore. figure. i as being unique. the
! figures and 3.that is. Gods work
in the hands and OF manmeaual >; and
In England we, do not fully. appreciate
the meaning OF the figure 3"
troops who fought in France furnish
ed the investigator with quantities Of
hsS dian on Object bhe sao5sHt OF
the information CLEANED was very in
The great mascot of the Maoris is
a, quaint contorted greensboro figure
which is known to be OF enormous
! sreenstone-a kind OF Jade is ex
,remely hardin fact, II is almost as
hard as corundum or the diamond,
club. would take nau!ve OF New
Zealand several months or even years
10 rub down: and it has been stated
Jade take the lives of three men. at
constant work. TO make. There are
however. large number OF machine,
! made tikis In the market. / was told
that when Maori dies his tiki is al
ways buried with him.
But the commonest charms among
! the soldiers Of France and Belgium
are made OF aluminium and copper
fragments of German shells. 1t was
considered that II you wore piece
lated you against future danger from
such sources. This Is similar to the
Ipsh eHs5y i Wsich
| supposed to protect the home from
being struck by lightning. Instances
Of this DOCTRINE exists practically
Shell Fragments Priced
| The French soldier very keen
on fragments of shells, which he
carefully wrapped in cloth and Sc
crSted about MS person msr a'um nrilnd
most highly. They were fashioned
into crosses. anchors. stars. diamonds.
shields. finger rings and even into
model dying machines by clever sol
| dier-art!sans. They were carried as
amulets by thousands of lighting men:
been common in that country for cen cen;
turtles. They are generally phaliic
emblems such as may be seen by the
thousands in the streets of Rome or
wears some religious emblem. :.
The "doughboy' amulets consisted or
n mixture of all the ones worn by the
divisions. especially the colorcd troops.
| European soldier and scores OF ms
own particular fancy. Rabbits rect
were numerous among the American
and other curious, essentially Ameri-
can charms were carried. The Yankee
! soldier, 1t seems was just rs supersti-
tious as the others when 1t came to
| good luck pieces.
| Mr.. I.ovett has a number Of German
charms, most of which were taken
| from German prisoners. They are or a
character one might expect from such
| n people. he says and consist largely
Of pigs, many Of which are grossly in
| decent and vulgar.
Pig mr. Wealth Insignia.
| Moreover" he says, "the pig Is not
| n lucky charm, as we might regard II.
| 1t simply implies wealth, and that is
not much use in actual fighting. An
other German charm Is a small model
L nf fun nuh q a a nnIllrnl