The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-02-07
Superstihous In Spite Of Ourselves
BY FREDERICK ). HAskIN

NEW YORK, Feb. Are you SUI
perstitious? Do you experience a
strange thrill of apprehension when
you spill salt, or when black cat
crosses your path, or when Friday,
the thirteenth. comes around IN the
calendar? Do you carry a rabbits
foot in your pocket or wear charm
on your watch-fob? If so, you can
console yourself with the thought that
your secret weakness is shared by at
least 95 per cent of mankind, and
probably more, including the greatest
modern scientists and intellectuals.
In fact, according to the recent an
nouncement of prominent psycholo-
gist. there are only two kinds of
people: Those who will admit they're
superstitious. and those who won't.
Not long ago, large New York de-
partment store. finding that new
| line of Oriental jewelry had failed to
make itself popular with the feminine
! public, changed it's advertisements to
read: New lot of Chinese lucky
pieces that will charm away ill for
tune" AS a result the next day, the
! aisles around the jewelry counter were
| blocked with a mob Of enthusiastic
shoppers, eager to obtain the magic
baubles. Furthermore, the mob was
not entirely feminine, but contained
many men.
! Other stores, Witnessing the success
of the lucky line" have now taken
| it up, and in a single block on Fifth
/ Avenue you can find half a dozen
| shops with conspicuous window-dis-
/ - oh ha foc oh
| able leather and gift shops have them
| in ivory and amber and jade at very
! high prices; while the Grug stores
have the near jade and composition
amber kind which lie on the same
| counter and blend very nicely with the
toilet articles.
"The wearing of charms" one deal
er says, has become especially popu
lar since the war when many soldiers
adopted the habit of carrying lucky
ENTHUSIASTICALLY trinkets given them
by their best girls-as a protection
against the enemy's gas and bullets
Well, many of them who wore the
charms came safely home, and yor
can't persuade them to discard them.
! Superstitous Agnostic
Il know man who has one of the
brightest minds I've ever met He's {
big engineer with a big reputation
and he also has well-developed taste
for books and pictures He's an ag
nostic and he swears he doesn't ever
believe in Fate, but he carries in hi:
pocket little gold hand that wa:
presented to him by an old woman
near the front lines in France. He
never goes anywhere without it, al
though. he says, he doesn't exactl!
believe in it.
: 1.-THE old lady gave 1t to him jus
before he took a detail of engineer
up to bridge q stream. The enem.
was waiting for them on the othe
side. and every man felt sure that thu
building of that bridge would be thu
last work he would ever Go. But jus
before they reached the stream,
thick fog descended upon the plac,
, and completely hid them from tn
enemy until the work was finished
Every man returned safe and sound
! After that, the chief engineer care
fully treasured his little gold hand"
The fact that superstition often ha
a strong hold upon men of high degre
: of education and intelligence was def
!, nltely proved some years ago by II
Addington Bruce, who conducted a.
investigation of the prevalence of ST
perstition among the teaching staff O
Harvard university. He himself wa
= astonished by the results which show
i ed, he says, that 73.4 per cent of tn
faculty were either consciously or III
consciously under superstitious il
! fluence.
Said one Harvard professor: 81 mus
;, say that | don't think | should fee
:. very comfortable if seated Is at
y meal, or living in house nun
) bered 49,"
Another confessed that he Away
picked up pins when he found thel
lying on the floor or on the sidewaIl
i 1T seems to me" he said,'' that l d
:, this automatically, but there may /
n a superstitious remnant in it."
II MY one superstitious practice,
= you call it such" wrote still anothe
!, lis TO knock on wood after boasting
II my health or good fortune"
=, One instruction admit cd that no n q