Evening star., 1925-10-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

yonder. Nor did mind then always fol-
low the high paths that reach upward
to the stars any more than it always
traces the same glorious road today
Some of the clever looked upward,
some led downward, with men scram-
bling after them. Thus arose our great
and our little ways of thinking, our
hfgh.minded religions and our grossest
superstitions.
X X y
The prayer chain" is one Of the
oldest forms of this linking Of the
| light to the dark, the claiming Of in
telligence to all those dark and un-
wholesome fears that beset our an
cestors.
The point is that those fears are
with us yet. In our electric-lit homes.
| surrounded by police protection, liv-
ing though we do in the great Capital
City of our great civilization, we still
fear, In some sense, the unknown.
We regard the so-called chain" as
a joke, yet follow out the instructions.
We find 1t easier to relieve our minds
of the threat by passing it along to
nine others than by the simple ex-
pedient OF plunging the whole thing
into the waste basket.
In similar manner, thousands Of
persons daily involve themselves in
other superstitions. One of the most
intelligent men l have ever known
religiously. as we say, adheres to the
tapping wood" superstition.
If he speaks of his health, immedi-
ately he taps wood" Theoretically
he knows it to be bunk" but actually
he follows it to the letter. He realizes
he is following in the path Of the
taboo" and making a motion to avert
the evil power.
The evil power of what?
The ancient Romans believed that
there was some sort OF evil nature in
herent in many things, just as there
seemed to be a beneficent nature in
other places. They called it "Numen. -
Our Christian idea of great Father
who tenderly cares for all His crea-
lures, even to the little sparrows, has
been unable to blot out from us this
inner fear of the evil nature resident
in the world.
Whence we have our devil"
The mere invoking Of a curse held
powerful sway for centuries. Even
today one would scarcely court being
the subject Of a healthy, vigorous
curse"
This idea of something evil. which
we must offset, Is at the basis OF all
our everyday superstitions, such as
that Of the breaking mirror, walking
under a ladder. seeing black cat cross
ones path, picking up a pin, etc, etc.
Every vocation in life has its pet
superstitions. Each superstition was
begun accidently, in all probability,
just as one of our successful air pilots
wears the same unwashed shirt in
each of his aerial races.
Once started, the thing grows by its
very momentum, forming a sort of
Chain" down through the ages. 1t is
passed on from one to another, and
whoever hears 1t thereafter comes un-
der its sway.
Good luck-bad luck. The two are
indissolubly linked. The unknown
past threatens us at one end, and the
equally unknown future balefully
glares at US from the other. The high
pretensions of men are Knocked and
the firm faith of our holy men cast
into the discard.
If ever there is a supreme oppor-
tunity for a modern man to assert his
God given intelligence and stand firmly
in the paths of such wisdom as he
possesses. it is when he receives a
"chain letter"
Let him throw the thing into the
waste basket and put his faith in his
God of Light rather than fear the
forces Of darkness. Only thus can he
live up to those great lines:
am the master of my fate:
/ am the captain of my soull