Show By IRIS mIS Last week I was walking behind a group of young people when they came to a ladder sprawled over the sidewalk Without slowing their pace or their chatter they walked under the ladder and went on There was no defiance In their action There was quite simply unawareness that they had broken what was for untold years a violent taboo SINCE THEN I HAVE been watching our young youngest st generation and I think I have about proved what the ladder incident made me suspect We are growing a crop ol of children probably the first in the lung long frightened frightened fright fright- ened history of mankind that Is almost wholly free of superstition I asked the young people a number of questions I asked Why do people knock on wood They'd never heard of it I asked Why a do you throw salt over your left shoulder They didn't know I wanted to know whether any of them leared that the howl of a dog in the night would foretell death of them even knew picking up a toad causes warts MY GENERATION DID We also knew some cures for lor the warts after we got them One swiped a dishrag from ones one's mother wiped the warts with it and burled buried it Or after the Ule was used it was put in a paper sack and left by the side of the Ule road Whoever picked up the sack got the warts too For the most part my generation has given up most of the taboos of their childhood although I find traces here and there A few of them a little residual nervousness when a black cat crosses their path and any number of them still sUll mumble bread and butter when an object separates the them m from someone they walk with although they forget why they say it One or two of them admitted they prefer not to sleep with the light of the moon on their face although only one of those with this fear knew it was because this light was for untold centuries believed to cause insanity in the sleeper BUT THE GENERATION to which my parents belong had a great dread and respect for the supernatural and the All sorts of dreadful things happened happened hap hap- to people who did the wrong things at the right time or vice versa Birth and death deaUl as well as all things in between were treated with great death caution especially since it could be brought on in so many devious ways My mother says she spent years in our town trying to get a start of sage to grow in her garden but she was refused Those ladles who already had sage growing told mother in whispers it would cause the death of a member of her family if she was given givena a sage root Mother noted for her lack of respect for forthe forthe the cautions and taboos asked how they got their start of sage but she was ignored NO ONE OF THAT GENERATION breathed the night air if they could avoid it It was well known night air did all sorts of harm No one opened an umbrella in- in doors And no woman who was expecting a baby took a afree afree free breath for months Almost anything could mark a baby if the mother didn't move through her days with great caution It was known that an indiscreet word an unworthy thought or any frightening event would mark the unborn child And if a baby did enter the world with a birthmark or a deformity the town grannies would gather to discuss at great length just what pre natal incident had caused it THE LIST OF REMEMBERED ERED superstitions is long And even today a few lew survive but the reasons are for lor- gotten for example who say God Go bless you bec se the soul was thought to leave the body during a sneeze and the incantation brought it back I wonder if it did |