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Show "G3D BLESS YOU'S" KEANIN3 Expression of Solicitude That Can Ee Traced Back to the Decline De-cline of Athens. The Creeks and Romans had their "Long life to you!" Gesundheit ! is new verboten. But we still say "Same" and "God bless you!" alter a sneeze. This expression of solicitude can be traced back to the decline of Athens. One nf the terrible devastating plagues which darken the pages of Kunipean history was raging in the famous city. The flower of Greece, her foremost writers rind artists, the founders of much of our modern culture, cul-ture, were ruthlessly cut down. The dead piled high, and daily Athenian courage was taxed to the fullest. But to every home where lay a victim, the elixir of hope, the rainbow of promise, prom-ise, was the sneeze, for it indicated to the watchers that the danger was passed, that the patient w-ould recover. A few centuries later another epidemic epi-demic assaired Europe, but this time the sneeze, being a symptom of the malady, was a bad omen. In this age of witches, goblins, medicine med-icine men and leeches superstition flourished. Some of the most intellectual intel-lectual minds of the time accredited charms and soothsayers. It was therefore there-fore nothing extraordinary for the pope to decree the exclamation "God bless you !" by anyone who heard a sneeze. This was supposed to combat com-bat its evil powers and prevent the spread of the disease. And "God bless you !" with Its kindly human interest in-terest lias come down through the ages. |