Show Superstitions of America How a Negro Wanted to Turn Back Because a Rabbit Crossed His H In Path Other Tales Milwaukee Sentinel Boss 1 I reckon we better beter tun roun an go back said sid an old negro who wh was my chosen charioteer on a drive through trough a bit of southern country HP He pulled up the horse hore and an looked worried worrie Why turn back I 1 asked The road seemed good and I saw no reason reson for delay when important tant taut business awaited me Inc in the town beyond Wy didn you ou tee see Ce dat rab mb rabbit rb bit He cross de road to de do lef let an he aln am never gone back IL sho bring bad luck to go on I gwine git out an make a cross mark inde in de road an tun roun to de crossroads an go the road It I took tok much persuasion to convince my aged Jehu that my m business was wa more important than the thc observance of his superstition tion ton When hen I told the Incident to my l host hot that night he lie smiled and said sid Did you pump him on the superstition question If I you ou had you rou would haVe found foun a mixture of modernism and African fe re that Is queer and Inexplicable That old negro neg would get up at any hour of the night to put a shovel In Inthe Inthe inthe the fire tre or throw salt sal on the coals or turn the he pockets of at his trousers if I he chanced to hear her the shivering cry co of a screech owl in the trees tres near hear his cabin If I he heard herd a dog tg howl three thrE nights In succession on his front porch nothing would convince conduce him that M some me member r of his family fall was not doomed I to die and if he should find a bit of I hair chicken feathers bones and ami herbs I Irole rolled roiled role in a tiny tn bundle and put under his doorstep he would likely move moe on account of o this hoodoo put there by b sonic some enemy enem My IJ host smiled as he pushed another cigar over oer the table to tf me and said I suspect most of us have UC a vein eln of su superstition superstition running through our make makeup up Then rather sheepishly ho he hI drew drewa a rabbits foot silver siver mounted and fastened Castene to a chain hain from hW hiS pocket and held it up to tome me This is a pretty pret good mascot I find One of the ne negroes negroes negroes groes got Jot it I for me I am not sure that It i Is the left hind foot of a graveyard rabbit killed at midnight in the dark of the moon on the grave grae of a murderer by b a redheaded negro as the recipe calls for fr but I do know that I am not going to leave loe this house houe without it I The only day I left lef it at home lionie since Inee I got it my 1 horse hone threw me and ami I was laid up with a broken collarbone for two weeks Why h they the ay say 0 its super superstition superstition that makes make me always alwa have my m meat met killed kled in the light of the moon but I 1 honestly believe beleve that meat met killed any an other time shrinks shrink away a in the cooking Same way wa with soap My y wife never has soap p made in the thc dark of the moon and she has old Mary watch carefully care fUll to see that It stir stirred str stirred red r the wrong way wa Our family has always adhered to the custom of plant planting plantIng ing log beans bons on Good Friday Fida a custom cu tom that came over oer with wit our forefathers from England I believe I dont know kno day its It origin but we ne e always plant that tat We Ye drifted drife into a long discussion of superstitions concluding that after nil all al wo we come far from the traditions and be beliefs of or our less enlightened ancestors who dreaded black cats because they might be witches who saw sw winding sheets in candle drippings and journeys In coffee grounds As a nation we doubtless cling to our superstitions be because because because cause they the are art a sort of luxury and not because we really eal the strength to shake them oft off of Some one has lias said that tat we like Uke cold coM picturesque beliefs and customs quite quie as much as we do old china old books boks old pictures anti and old carvings It I i been a century ago since ru rural ruml ral ml rl dwellers in North Carolina were were surreptitiously placing Bibles under the th heads heds of or their sleeping children to charm char away wa the same witches that dwellers in old Salem and Boston had tried and burned 10 years ears before when caught aught in human buman shape I 1 am not superstitious at all nI I am really rel too to enlightened some charming house housewife housewife housewife wife will wi tell tel you OU and then will wf add with a smile but I do hate to cross a funeral procession on the street or begin a journey journe on Friday Fida Many women will wf never start the te making of ofa ofa a n dress on Friday Fida and If t a spark from the fire should burn bur a hole in the gar garment gr garment ment while it It being made It is con considered considered considered a sure sign that the wearer will willdie wf willdie die before the garment grent wears out To turn back for a forgotten article artcle after one starts star out of the house is a 3 bad sign unless s one sits sis down a minute In Inthe Inte inthe the te parlor to avert evil el To turn tur back twice Is ts good god luck Sing before breakfast and you ou will wl weep before dark runs another anoter old saying and some country folk believe that he who cuts cut his nails nis on Sunday Sunda will wi suffer stiffer much shame and mortification tion ton before the day Is over To put put a stocking on n wrong side out when dressing in the morning Is 15 bad luck unless the wearer will wi sit down dow at the theet exact et noon non hour and turn the unconscious unconscious unconscious tool of destiny True this per performance forance might be embarrassing but butt buti i It t must be done to change the te luck In some communities a custom brought from the Old World orld requires a member of a house where death deth has ha come to tojo togo togo go jo out and whisper the news to the thebes bes bees In the hive and beg them to stay else ee they the will wi depart depart Thirteen will wf always be a hoodoo number It I has survived centuries of reform and progress dating back it I Is said to the Lords supper where Judas udas betrayed betre his master Men len arc are even more mor uneasy une over oer this number than han tha women often refusing to sit alt at nt a table where there ter at thirteen and de Ic declining dining clining point pint blank to occupy rooms roms in ina inn ina a n hotel that bear ber the cabalistic sing The superstition Is so general generl that up hotels and steamers have no rooms roms numbered number thirteen The divining rd rod is still sti to be found in this country count though people have hare laughed time and again over oer the superstition of the day da of the father of ot Prophet Joseph oseph Smith when that worthy went wet seeking for bu buried burie ned ried rie treasure or for good god locations for wells with his hazel wand Whatever you Jou do If you are ar taking a asea asea sea soa voyage dont dare to whistle unless there here Is a great geat calm at ut sea Whistling will wl bring c a C wind wind so the seamen say They The may ma graciously permit you to whistle a bit if I the boat Is becalmed but jut just try t It when there is 15 i a wind The skipper may sternly ster advise you to cut It I out unless you want to bring bringa bringa a a gale gle Sailors are said to be be the most superstitious of all aU people ople and It Is well wen that they have hare a d objection to having haYing a preacher among the passengers passenger or a corpse corse brought aboard Just what disaster the sky sk pilot or a corpse corse may m y bring Is not nol mown known kO Let them see lee the rats leaving a ship and there ther will wi be an a Immediate exodus on the part ot of ot the te sailors for tor that means the tM ship will wn sink and that every member of oC the crew cw will wU be a candidate for Davy Day Jones J nes ocker Gamblers Gambl r are a said sId to be bc nex to lo sail sailors al ors err ort In la belief belt f In the occult and stage folks foUs are third in lne line Once Onca a scene I I I shifter wa wac called Ile In to sit Hi at the table In one of ot Drew Drews s plays when at the last minute the number pays of characters was wa discovered to be b thirteen An n umbrella la Ia l must m t not be b opened on the stage A person perso in the front rev rov rw is ir i considered to queer quer a play pIny and almost every cery actor and actress will wJ observe certain cerain rules of oC their thir own in going on and oft off on th the stage s ge Almost every ever actor has h a pernal personal su superstition that to any am one would be amusing It I is told of Lawrence Lawrenc Bar Barrot Barrt rot melt rt t that before he would play pIa certain roles role he always alws carefully ate the ex cx exact x act half hl or of o a H pie that McCullough would always alays make a change In his east cast At before a play ply was allowed to go on If f he le happened to tu see e the moon mn o ohis his If shoulder boulder as af he came ome down Iowa to the theatre while Forrest Forret would never have hare lle an actor wih him who could not nt lorik loik him directly in the UK eye Barbers believe that a barber will 1 bring bock back olk luck to tf their shop and all seriously object to being bing the person to shave shae the first Monday morn morning mor ing lug customer Pickpockets Pickpocket will wi never neer rob ro a hunchback a M or a man mn with wih a clubfoot Railroad men 1 re averse to changing a schedule on Friday Frda or to taking an engine out for forIs Its Is maiden maien run on that day The TIM num number lum number ber br nine is a hoodoo hoo on H some me ro rO reeds ds l Oc Occasionally Occasionally a certain engine eu gets gets a bad ba name among railroad men m n as did the th on th the Denver Ufo IllO maude Grande some mf years ers ago aco It I proved pro to be the th mo t bloodthirsty engine In the history of o the tho rood road rod After It had killed kle nine en in twenty months and anti the en entire ef entire tire tre force forc had ha l threatened to te strike on m mIs Its Is account it was s condemned to the junk lt heap ap Many fan of our customs date back hack to the dark lark ages and are based on super superstition superstition We sit si up with wih our dead ded be because b because lon ancestors kept lu cause cus long ago 80 our aJeto pt watch by b night Vest lest evil evi spirits spirit come com and bear br the body b away aWA We shake hands with wih the th right hand because that thatis i is the dagger hand and aOI menus means that we Te disarm ourselves In the presence of a d friend We e how bow the head bed in passing others other ue our ancestors were wore wont to bow how before the real rel yoke oke of the op up pr sor Men 11 bare barf their ther heads heds be because because cause th thy they y had to unmask in the days ns of chivalry before the queen of beauty beut Laugh who will aill wi the taint of ancestral belief In omens runs in lit all an of oC our veins This superstitious dread may be shown in the northerner nort listening for the were werewolf werewolf wolf wol the eastern housewife carefully setting the head had of her bed be to the north the th southern negro singing over his head to charm harm away awa evil spirits spiris or the cattlemen of th tb the west watching for sus suspicious suspicious signs sigs in the thE mood of his restless herds but rich or poor high or low lowthe lowthe lowthe the seed has been ben sown in us all al and we are ar still sti more or less thrall to the mystic beliefs that were rife riCe in the theol th tholen ol olen en times |