Springville Herald | 1950-03-23 | Page 12 | Above the Hullabaloo

eas P , whom he owed money and couldn't shake. P was realistic and contemptuous of Robert's subjugation sub-jugation to omen and sought to cure him. He knew he would have to handle Robert with kid gloves, say the diplomatic thing. He had taken courses on how to influence people and boxing lessons besides. He showed Robert the nonsence of detouring around ladders. Robert Rob-ert swore he would try to walk under the next one In his path. He did. A can of paint fell on his head and killed him. MORAL: "Don't shoot yourself on Friday, the thirteenth. It's' apt to prove fatal." Rigor mortis is no tighter than the cramps that seize the stingy when it comes time to spend some money on somebody else besides be-sides themselves. I 1 ABOVE THE Here's how one man was cured of his superstition about walking under ladders. Robert A was brought up in an environment of superstition. His father wouldn't let him wear diapers until he was 18 because of a silly notion about the triangle's tri-angle's being an occult symbol able to summon devils so no triangular tri-angular drawers. His mother had a nervous tic from trying to catch a glimpse of the new moon over her left shoulder. shoul-der. She finally succeeded, throwing throw-ing her neck out of joint in the process. Robert's Uncle Barnacle was an old salt, retired, who lived in the A household. Whenever he received re-ceived a nasty spill, he tried to throw himself over his left shoulder. should-er. (There's a superstition about spilled salt . . ) He wound up in a wheel chair. From Uncle Barnacle, Robert picked up superstitious lore about the sea. "A woman on a ship is bad luck," Uncle used to say. "Unless "Un-less there is another woman abbard to talk about, she'll drive the vessel aground." No wonder Robert was unsuccessful unsuc-cessful in his chosen career picking the horses. With the hoodoo hoo-doo sign on each horse, he would bet on none. Strange to say, he made money this way. His strange beliefs were often offensive to others. He convinced black cats it was bad luck to walk in front of him. He submitted his acquaintances questionnaires, Inquiring In-quiring whether they had any cross-eyed kinfolks. People avoided avoid-ed him, especially cross-eyed people, peo-ple, whom he shot on sight. Obviously, Ob-viously, he was off under wrong auspices. Luckily, he had one friend, Phin-