Cleveland County herald., 1921-04-14
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YOUR SUPERSTITION
By F. 4. WALKER

Y YOU read the cable news you saw A few days ago an item from Bonn Day which said that the stock and eX- change markets of that. city had been closed and that a general religious strike was in prospect because two European boys had killed two pigeons in the streets of the city.
 The natives Considered the pigeons sacred and the strike resulted because the police did not take the action which the natives thought should have followed the destruction of the birds
 From the beginning of history there is a record of animal worship by hu- man beings.
 The carvings and crude paintings Of the earliest Egyptian periods, which are the first picture record that we have, show the esteem in which the lower forms of life were held.
 The eat was especially venerated by the ancients and in the tombs of Egyptian rulers and nobility are found wonderful carvings of eat heads, some times pictured as being on human bodies.
 The tops of funeral jars which were placed in the tomb to contain either food or toilet preparations for the use of the dead had covers of eat heads wonderfully true to nature. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has numerous examples of these jars.
 The bull was a sacred animal for centuries and some modern savage populations still worship 1t and lead 1t, gorgeously decorated, in all their stafe ceremOnials. Greek and Roman mythology and history are filled with references to the sacredness of the bull and 1t figures largely in both painting and sculpture.
 In India, no matter how near to starvation a man may be he will not take food from a dog nor kill it to eat, although dogs are recognized as a staple article of food in the Philip pines and other parts of the world. To kill a dog in India would be al- most sacrilegious.
 We cannot hold ourselves as wholly immune from animal worship. To the owl we ascribe a wisdom wholly ab- sent from that dull and witless bird His brain power Is not to be compared with that of the crow, one of the most intelligent of the feathered tribes.
 We ascribe great wisdom to the fox equal to those of the beaver, the most of all the animal kingdom.
 The reason for the ancient venera tion of the animals and the modern regard in Bombay for the welfare of pigeons is that the people believe that they have some peculiar power of pro- tection from disaster or 'bad luck"
 The human mind when it does not have any proven thing to believe, is always willing to substitute supersti- tion.
 The sufferer from rheumatism after he has found other remedies inef- fective, will resort to carrying a horse chestnut in his pocket. The gambler puts his lucky coin on the table as soon as fortune begins to run against | him. Half the baseball teams in the pay a salary to a mascot and | transport him about the country for [ his presumable effect on the winning | of games.
 If you spill the salt, you throw a pinch of it over your shoulder to allay the unhappy results which you half | believe may follow. You will not walk under a ladder and If you go out of | the house and have to return for some thing you think you must sit down before you go out again.
 You very likely thought, if you read the Bombay item. What fools those over the killing of couple of pig .Ons." The gentleman in Bombay l would be equally amused if he knew hat you attached great power to the of a mirror to bring you bad uck.
 One superstition is about as silly as another and so long as we harbor be- | iefs which have neither reason nor ogic to support them, we are not in a position to criticize the people who 1o not want their pet opinions inter- fered with by foreign unbelievers.
 The best way to avoid this kind of | trouble is to have no superstitions l but to respect the weak | nesses of those who persist in foolish beliefs.
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