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Show SEED HAS SEES SOIJJS All People Still More or Less Thrall to the Mystic Beliefs. EVERYONE BELIEVES IN CERTAIN OMENS Taint Runs in Veins of All, and Cannot Be Eradicated. rabbit, killed at midnight in tho dark of the moon on the grave of a murderer by a red-headed, cross-eyed negro, as the recipe calls for. but I do know that. T am not going to leave this houso without, it. The only day 1 left it at home since T got it my horse threw me and I wns laid up with a broken collarbone for two weeks. Why, they say it's superstition that makes me always al-ways have my meat killed in the light, of the moon', but I honestly believe that meat killed any other time shrinks away in the cooking. Same way with ! soap. Mv wife never has her soap made in the dark of the moon, and she has old Mury watch carefully to see that it. isn't stirred the wrong way. Our family has always adhered to the custom of planting beans on C4ood Friday, Fri-day, a custom that came over with our forefathers from England, f believe. 1 don't know its origin, but we always plant that day." We drifted into a long discussion of ' prcsent-dav superstitions, concluding ! that aftcr'all wc hadn't come fur from ! the old-time traditions and beliefs of our less enlightened ancestors who dreaded black cats because they might be witches, who saw winding sheets in j candle drippings, and journeys in coffee cof-fee grounds. As a natiou we doubtless cling to our superstitions becauso they arc a. sort of luxury, and not because wc really haven't tho strength to shako them oii'. Some, one has said that, we like old. picturesque beliefs and customs cus-toms quite as much as wc do old china, old books, old pictures, and old carv- It. hasn't been a century ago since rural dwellers in North Carolina were surreptitiously placing Bibles under the heads of their sleeping children to charm away the same witches that dwellers in old Salem and Boston had tried and burned a hundred years before be-fore whon caught in human shape. ' 'T am not superstitious at; all. I am really too enlightened,'" some charming housc-wifo housc-wifo will tell you, and then will add with a smile, ''but E do hate to cross a funeral procession on the street or j bepin a .tourney on Friday." Main women will never start the making of j a dress on Friday, and if a spark from the fire should burn a hole in the gar- I inent while it is being made it is con- ) sidercd a sure sign that the wearer will die before the garment wears out. To ' turn back for a forgotten article after i one starts ont of the house is a bad sign, unless one sits .down a minute in the parlor to avert evil. To turn back twice is good luck. Sing before breakfast and you will weep before dark, runs another old saying, say-ing, and some country folk believe that ho who cuts his nails on Sunday will suffer much shame and mortification before be-fore the day is over. To put a stocking stock-ing on wrong sido out when dressing in the morning is very bad luck, unless the wearer will sit down at the exact noon hour and turn tho unconscious tool of ' destiny. True, this performance might; be embarrassing, but it; must bo done ' to change the luck. In sotno communities communi-ties a custom brought from tho old world requires a member of a house where death has come to go out and whisper the news to the bees in the hive and beg them to stay, else thev will depart. Thirteen will always be a hoodoo number. Ii has survived centuries of reform and progress, dating back, it is said, to the Lord's supper, when Judas betrayed his Master. Men r.rc even more uneasy over this number than women, ofton refusing to sit at a tabid where thero arc thirteen, and declining ! point blank to occupy rooms in r hotel that, bear the cabalistic' sign. This superstition su-perstition is so general that up-to-date hotels and steamers have no rooms numbered num-bered thirteen. Whatever you do, if you are taking a sea voyage, don't, dare to whistle unless un-less there is a great calm at pea. Whistling Whis-tling will bring a wind, so the seamen hay. They may graciously permit vou i to whistle a bit if the boat is becalmed but .-just try it when there is a wind! The skipper may sternly advise you to "cut it out" unless you want to bring a galo. Sailors are said to bo the mot, superstitious of all people, and it. is well known that they have a dcp- 1 rooted objection to having a preacher among the passengers or a corpse brought aboard. Just what, disaater the sky pilot-' or a corpse may bring is not known. Lot them sec the'rais leaving leav-ing a ship and there will be an immediate imme-diate exodus on tho part of the. sailors, tor that means the ship will sink and that every member of the crew will I)C a candidate for Davy Jones's locker. Gamblers are said to be next to sailors sail-ors in belief in tho occult, and stage folks are third in line. Once a scene ! shifter was called in to sit nt tho tablo in one of Drew's "plnye, when at the! last minute the number of diameters i was discovered to be thirteen. An um ' brella must not be opened on tho stage- a cross-eyed person in the front row is ! considered to queer a play; and almost every actor and actress will observe I certain rules of their own in goinir on 1 and oft the stage. Almost, every actor ! has a personal superstition that "to any- ' one else would bo amusing. It is told ' of Lawrence Barrett that beforo ' ha would play certain roles he always fw Ar"-V. e thue exiu:t 1,alf uf Pie; that McOullough would always make a change in his cast beforo a piav was allowed to go on. if ho happened 'to see I the moon over Ins loft, shoulder: as he I camo down to the theater; while For- I rest would novcr havo abactor withj him who could not look him direclly in Barbers believe that a left -handed barber will bring bad luck t Ihiir shop, and ocriously object, to being the person to shave tlio lirst Mondn v-morn-inp customer. Pickpookets will never rob a hunchback, a cross-oyed person, or a man with a club foot. .Railroad men are averse to clumping a schedule on Friday or to taking an engine out. for its niaiden run on that da 3'. The number nine is a hoodoo on some rouiii. ' Occasionally an engine gets a bad name 1 among railroad men, ns'did "tho 107" j on the Denver & Rio Grande some years ago. It proved to be the most blood- 1 thirsty cngino in tho history of tho j road. "After it had killed nine, enginoors ' in twenty months, and tho entire force had threatened to strike on its ncconnt, it was condemned to tho junk heap. ( " " k I Many of our customs dato bnck to ; the dark ares and are based on super- stition. "Wc sit ii) with our dead be ; cause long ago our ancestors kept watch ' bv night lest evil spirits como and bear I the body away. Wo shako hands with I tho riglit hand because that is the dag- ; ger-hand, and means that we disarm , ' ourselves in the presence of a friend. 1 j Wc bow tho head in passing others be-j be-j cause our ancestors were wont to bow before tho real yoke of (he oppressor. Men baro their heads because thej' had to unmask in the days of chivalry before be-fore tho Queen of Beauty. Laugh who will, the taint of ancestral ances-tral belief in omens runs in all our veins. Their superstitious dread may be shown in tho Northerner listening for tho wore-wolf, tho Eastern housewife house-wife carefully setting tho head of her bed to tho north, the Southern negro singing over his dead to charm awny evil spirits, or the cattleman of the West watching for auspicious 6igns in the mood of his restless hord; but rich or poor, high or low, the seed has been sown in us all, and we are still moro or Jess thrall to the mystic beliefs that wore rife in the olden time. "Tho Great American Game of Politics" Poli-tics" wiU be detailed by Mr. Hapkin in The Tribune on Saturday. |