SUPERSTITION.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 2789, 28 May 1921, Page 2

SUPERSTITION.

AM rSINO RKIT.KCTIONS

Someone has said that all human beings are superstitious at heart, if not outwardly. If this j.s the . case (and we may ajmost suspect it to be so, with a few possible exceptions)’ it is on© of the instances of poor humanity picking up a burden it was never intended, to carry. Alany people (says the “Newcastle Weekly Chronicle”) are slaves in the toils of the superstition god from morning till night. Follow such a on© from sunrise to sunset, pnd observe with what meticulous care lie must work his already overburdened mind and memory with trifles that should be beneath liis notice. His right foot must precede his left; his stocking, if put on wrong side, may so remain in order that he may receive a present before night. If by any chance a mirror is cracked or broken while dressing, such a person would be so overcome as to b*- of little use. for the rob of the day; the .dtme if a picture falls in liis bedroom. Our friend must on no account drop the soap while he is washing; the very {.sight of a spider early in, the day portends sorrow, and to kill it would certainly bring rain. The joyous whistle dies on his lips as he rums downstairs, for he remembers “Sieg before you eat, cry before 3011 sleep.” He careful to prop the poker in front of the grate, though he may not know the reason, that he is really making the sign of tin- cross with the top bar.**The bread falls in half as he cuts it, and lie starts, for it demotes a parting from some loved one, worse still the crust of the bread is ribbed with a cross Why this should portend misfortune and the poker cross good fortune, he could not toll you nor anyone else, but superstitious practices are certainly not notorious lor logic. Perhaps later, in a fit of absent-mind-edness, he crosses liis knile and lork while eating ba con, or forget® to smajsli up his egg-shell. He will be very sorrowful, and more so if he put his umbrella or liis boots on the table. This last is a most admirable form of being called in to check a nasty, dirty habit ; but alas ! wliat can be said of it preventing our poor friend from cutting his mails becau-se it >is Friday? Having overcome liis distress at another member of the household toasting bread with a knife (most- unlucky), and observing the foretelling of :t wedding on ( seeintg two spoons* in one saucer, he sets off. He struggles with himself whether he will return to the house for an important document, but decides it is too unlucky. Ho sees a pioe of coal 011 the road, and courts happiness and dirt}- fingers by picking it up. He is delighted to meet both a. piebald horse and a. black cat, but bis vague hopes for the future are dashed ill© next moment b}' the .’sight of a woman with a squint. At lunch time in a restaurant lie has to quit- his chosen* table hurriedly because it- is laid lor thirteen, and this though it may be crowded elsewhere. He pours out a glass of water, as the mutton broth is salt, y 01113- to remember tlie. old adage, “If you drink waiter with soup, you will cough in your grave.” And iso we might follow our poor friend to the close of the day, when he mournfully overturns a salt-cellar and views the i>‘w moon through gitss! Assuredly his burden is heavy and grievous to be borne. And w© call him “fool,” yet feel vaguely insineere.