A well bred man puts hit hand over hit mouth when he yawns, but sot one well bred raio m a thousand knows why. The reason U this, Science Sif tings says : ' Four or five thousand jenre ago there was v superstitiou common m Europe that the devil wes always lying m wait to enter a mane body and tako possession of him. Satan generally went m by the mouth, but when he hai waited s reasonable time and the man did n>topen his mouth the devil made him ya«;i, and when bis mouth wai open jumped down his throat. 80 meny cases of this kind 00-uit d that the people learned to make the Bign of the crois jver their mouths whenever they yawned m order to scare away the devil Ih» peasantry m Italy and Spain still adhere to this metood, but most ether people huv» .it p nsed with the cross eign, and keep out the devil by simply placing the haud before the lips. It wag a mott remarkable survival of a praotioe aftar the significance has perished." In these days of nervous exhaustion his Satanio Maj»tty would have his work oat out.
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Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6064, 25 September 1894, Page 4
Word Count
197Untitled Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6064, 25 September 1894, Page 4
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