Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-07

| New York, FEB. 7s--Are you eupW-
stitiousf DO you experience strange
| thrill Of apprehension when you spill
salt. or when = black cat CROSSES your
path. or whom Friday, the thirteenth, ,
comes around In the calendar DO
you carry = rabbits foot In your :
pocket or wear = charm On your !
watch-fob7 II 70. you can console ,
yourself with ths thought that your I,
secret weakness 10 shared by at least !
t5 per cent OF mankind. and prob
ably more, including the greatest
modern scientists and intellettuals. In
fact. according 10 the recent an
nouncement OF prominent psychol-
ogtst. there are only two kinds OF
people: Those who will admit they're /,
superstitious, and those who won't. i.
Not long ago. large New Yorf
department store. finding that new
line OF Oriental jewelry had failed 70
make itself popular with the feminine
public, changed it's advertisements 10
read New lot OF Chinese lucky pieces
that will charm away Ill fortune" AS
result the next day the aisles
! around the jewclry counter were
blocked with a mob OF enthusiastic 4
shoppers, eager TO obtain the unglc I
haubIes. Furthermore, the mob was
, not entirely feminine, but contained /
: many men
r Other stores. witnessing the sue
: cess OF the lucky line" have now
c taken 1t up. and IN single block on
e Fifth Avenue you can find half a
: dozen shops with consp.cuous window
3 displays OF lucky charms" The
I r.. L. xt<t
have them in ivory and amber and
e jade st very high prices; while the
d drug stores have the near jade and
: lcomposition amber kind which lie on
y the same counter and blend very
o nicely with the toilet articles.
y "The wearing OF charms" one deal
e er says. has become especially popu
o lar since the war when many soldiers
} adopted the habit OF carrying lucky
o tokens usually trinkets given them
n by their best girls-as n protection
against the enemy's gas and bullets
n Wei, many OF them who wore the
lie charms cane safely home, and you
D. can't persuade them 70 discard them.
!" Superstitious Agnostic.
a. 81 know a man who has ono Of the
= brightest minds I've ever met He's
big engineer with big reputation,
and he also has well-developed taste
for books and pictures. He's an
agnostic and he swears he doesn't
even believe in Fate, but he carries
! In his pocket little bold hand that
was presented 70 him by an old wo-
man near the front lines in France
~ He never goes anywhere without II
&C. although, he says, he doesn't exactly
,os ,os believe in it.
nd THE old lady gave Il TO him JUS
20 before ne took detail of engineer.
ifc up to bridge stream. The enemy
I've was waiting for them on the othe1
~ side, and every man felt sure that tn,
building OF that bridge would be IN,
last work he would ever do. But JUS
ng before they reached tho stream,
N thick fog descended upon the plac'
RI. and completely hid them from tn
Tor enemy until the work was finished
AN Every man returned safe and sound
l'n After that, tho chief engineer care
: fully treasured his little gold hand"
TIL fact that superstition often ha
=. strong hold upon men OF high de
- gree OF education and intellisencs wa
QStlUllciy PIONSQ BUTTE yeAI8 akO ID
80 H. Addington Bruce, who conducte
an investigation of the prevalence {
= superstition among the teaching sta
,or OF Harvard University. He himse
,ar was sstonished by fhe results whic
an, showed. he says. that 73.4 per cent
os- the faculty were either consciously
unconsciously under supersitious II
nv fiuence.
, Said one Harvard professor:
r. must say that I don't think I .hou
the feel very comfortable IL seated f3
a meal. or living in a house number.
,ss? 49,"
9. Another confessed that he alwa,
In picked up pins when he found the
iost lying on the floor or on the sidewal
The 1T seems TO me- he said. that I {
ese this automatically, but there may |
$ a superstitious remnant in it,
cen My one superstitious practice,
ere. you can calnit SUCH wrote still al
lent other, lis 10 knock on wood aft
de- boosting OF my health or gos
fortune"
otor One instructor admitted that he h,
ob' certain amount OF faith in the tru
an of the old saying. Sing befo
hca1 breakfast. and you will cry befo
uai- night"
yer, Another said: II have an instinct
erdi dislike OF seeing the new moon ov
too- my left shoulder"
n is
E in Early Impressions Responsible.
ex- Bruce thinks that the influence
popular superstitions upon the ed
tion Gated adult mind may be explain
dis largely by the fact that they are a
w. Quired in childhood-'that plas
au- period when the mind is most recs
1892. tive and the critical faculty most
the allegiance. The folk tales OF the nul
: at cry and the kitchen he says, ''t
superstitious sayings of the oiS
Ages members of the family circle make
I. w. tremendous impression on the mind
sley, the child. This would not matter
and rhuch were it not for the fact that I
met pressions OF childhood. especially WI
ared they appeal strongly 10 the emotio
heo- in man, are apt TO persist through'
until life"
led he also points out that supers
'lady ton has played an important part
q of rha of all rqlixsiQps .