Year: 1876

SIGNS AND 0MENS.


Let none of US boast ourselves as free
from the servitude of superstition SO long
as we nourish our pet signs and sacrifice
to our tavorte omens. How many OF us
dare to begin piece OF work on Friday,
lest we never flush it ? How many Of
us refuse to cut our nails on Sunday lest
misfortune follow us all the week. In
deed, superstition has made quite a point
in the matter of finger nails, and instructs
us that the maiden who abbreviates them
upon Saturday will see her true love on
even yet believe in the evi-eye, and hear
their death-warrant in the baying of a
dog or the crash ofa milror-who would
almost starve sooner than sit the thir-
teenth at the table. In the creed OF those
it is an evil omen to count the stars-you
will certainly die before you have finish
ed. To see the moon over your left
shoulder presages i'll luck, though one
ought to feel fortunate at seeing it at all
hazards to receive or to bestow the gift
OF pointed or sharp instrument argues
certain destruction of friendship between
the two to pick up pin with the point
toward you is of such import that one
had better want pin forever than to Sc
cure it ut this cost. So little have most
Of us outgrown the belief that com
ing events cast their shadows before,
that for harmless bird to enter our
dwelling is piognostic Of some dire
event. There is probably NOT one OF
US who, upon spilling the salt, will not
seek to appease the gods by throwing a
pinch over the shoulder-unless we es
pecially harker after quarrel. Ii our
scissors stick in the floor upon falling, We
straightway expect Il stranger II host
ess through inadvortence, sends Us two
! spoons to our cup of bohea, We anticipate
a present. Who of US would put on the
mourning bonnet Of another without Il
shudder of apprehension And do we
not learn that to sing before breakfast is
most dangerous error perhaps be-
cause there are malaras abroad in the
morning air, with which it is not wise to
fill ones lungs while the stomach is emp
ty. Does not the verse tell Us,


Sing in the street,


Disappointment you'll meet ?"


1t may be because singing thus denotes
great elevation of spirits, which is inva
nably followed by corresponding depres-
sion while the prophesy that " those
who sing in the morning will cry before
night !" belongs to the same family, and
is deprived probably from the same nat
ural causes.


" A maid shall not marry on II Wednesday,
A maid shall not marry in the month of May
we are told, though one would be inclined
to think that Wednesday, after the wash
ing and ironing were put away, would be
most opportune season for wedding.
larry in Lent, and you'll live to repent
inherits the assurance from moro an
cient superstition, which predicted mis-
fortune to those who married during thu
feast of St. Joseph. And does it not tend
to prove the degree Of bondage in which
even the Christian world WAS held, when
the churches forbade marriage at tina
season, as the feast fell in Lent


Change your name and not your letter,


You'll change for worse, aud not the bettor.'
is saying, however, that the most su-
perstitiou is brave enough to defy at Gu
pd's bidding. Who Of us has not know
a mother to persist in carrying her new
born child into the attic before taking
him down to the parlor in order that h
may be sure to rise in the world or on,
to whom the rocking Of an empty cradle
would give chill of foreboding VIII
has known the nurse to shake her heaC
over the weighing Of the baby 2 An'
ic old fellow who tells us that the horse
chestnut in his pocket " has been better'l
all your DOCTORS stuff" though its cura
tive powers may not be visible in tn
} distorted limbs of the believer?


In the beginning, doubtless, most O
these superstitions had Il natural and rea
sonable origin, though they have becom'
so corrupt by time and overlaid by pre-
judice that we can sec nothing but non
, sense in them. Why should it be luck.
( to put on garment inside out, unes
the trouble it occasions teaches US par
/ ticularty and painstaking ? If we breal
, two articles, why must we pertorce breaI
, A third, unless it is that CARELESS habi
grows upon one and why must we bul
, something in order to break the spell 0
, slippery fingers, unless it is to teach
lesson in profit and loss /! Why do dea'
mems shoes never wear long or Is
only another version OF "light come
, light 60" and confirmation OF the iac
, that we only value what we secure viii
effort Does not the admontion neye
? be count your fish when fishing, or yo'
, will catch no more, merely signiiyini
that it is unwise to rest on ones laurel
and let opportunity slip by ? that ther
is a tide in the affairs Of men, a. well a.
, of fishes Truth to tell, we should b
sorry TO part with some OF our pleasaL
superstitions, which often lend charu
to our commonplace experiences, linking
them with the nscrutable and myste
rous. Has not the finding OF a rusty
horseshoe frightened the dull day tOI
US?


4" How it touches our quick heart.


Whom Fate, by Omens, takes our partP
when we discover four-leayed clover
for instance, and


Garry in your hearts for days


Iuf hul