Popular Superstitions

Accidenta sometimos oecur to the feuiinine toilet which render a pin, for (he in stant, one of the most valmiMe of poaaessi.ins, atii] (lie natural supposition was that such a one had befallen the lady. But no, ahe uierely dropped the pin into hcr purse atid quietly went her way, wliile Wí r-callmj the rhyme f rom Mother GeOM, mure thrifiy than practical : Kee a pin nn.l plek it up, All töe ituy you'll hiw gixxl luok ; s.M-a pin aod let lt lay, H id loeh you'll uave all dity. The superstition is a common one, shared by all classes, and doubtless orignated in past ages, wueii pins were scaree and val uablo. Wn often hear it quoted as an in ' stance of Stephen Girard's economy that he was never known to pas8 a pin without l'icking it up, but the question is an open one whether the faut was due to motives ot'thrift. or simply to the old superstiti.m. This ii the aeason of building, and it ja cuiious to observe how, when a ladder is erecteJ against a wall, many persons- in fact the ruajority of passers-by - go round it, out into the Street, rather than DMI under, although dangeto lite or limb from fo doing thcro is absolutcly none. And of those who sturdily walk under, probably more than one reiuembers uncjmfortably the ill luck which h :iii to at remi thft act. The evil repute which attaches to Pridy ij wcll rngh world wiio. Among aaiUn the prcdjudici' .iu':n n-t tliisd;iy iii espcoiallj prevaleinr. In ui .Li to dUproT an.l bod tra 1 .¦ i in fome uieisure, a wealthy Eiiilili - h ¦ p buildfr one built h vessel which was begun on l'ri.liiy, tinUli.-.l du l''riil:iy, ebrUtaiM d "The l'iidiy," and launched on Pridty. lt m wil d difficulty tli:ii men rere Cmud t.) in:in Iht, but, tenijitivl tiy hili nH, a crew was at last oblained, an.l -hr Ml gaü on Kri.lay. lïnf')rtunately for the minuut of the ezperimanr, slu' wis n:ver bMrd of aain. SOPKMTtTtOMa ABOUT DAYS. BesiJs the proïninenci; which Friilay has attained, every dny of the week lias it tuperstitiuu attached. aii'i is of good 6 pril omen, W'ith moatef thoui Üte reader is probably familiar, yet au article ut lliis kind troold hardly be ODmplete without souie enumeratiou of the most eofflm m : Sundays chlld ne'er lacks In place Momlay'schlM is luir In faceTiiivsday'K cluhl is full of gruco ; Weilnesday'sehild iH sour and sad Thuraday'8 chlld Is loving and glai ; l''rlday'B chlld (s lovillK hii1 glvhlK ; ' And .Miturday's chlld hall wurk ior' li Is living. Sneeu on ¦ Hondajr you ladeae for danger Sneeze on 11 Tuenday you kis a slrunger ; ' Kueese on a Wedoeoday you sneesefrjr aetter: Kneeztj on a Tlmrsday lor sometlilng Lietler ' Sneeze on a Kriday you d,y sorrow ' sneeze on a Saturday yoqr sweelheart to-'raorSneeze on a Sunday your safety seek Tliedevll willchaxeyou the wholeof the week. lut vuur nalls on Monday you cut tbera lor news ; Cut themon Tuesday a pair of now rtio Cut them ou Wednesday you cut tliem for health ; Cut them on Thurdday 'twlll add to your wealth; (ut them on Frlday you ent them for woe ; Cut them on Saturday ajouruey yon'll go ('ut tliem ou sunday you cut tnein for evll For all the week loiig you'll be ruled by the devll. The last two omens rogarding Sunday must have oriinated in the days wheti it was a penal offeuse for a mau to kis his wife on Sunday, and when Melcliisedec Jones was put in stocks fbr calling on bis sweetheart one Stmday afternoon. There are intelligent and well educated people whom nothing can induce to try on a mourning garmeut when not in black iheui.-elves. The writer has heard a lady uphraiding herself with the keenest reuiorse on the death of her bister because a few days previow r-he had tried a black crape hat belongiog to a frieod visiting at the house. To reason with her and endeavorto prove ihat ny connection between the two events was iwpossible comforted her but litlfe, and today it ií probable that none of the family would, upou anv ootisideratiou, do the sanie tfcing aain. hviry oae knows the origin of the cus toni of' burying the dead with their feet u the east, a custom universal ainoog Christian nations, and adopted at n'iít tliat, as thii Lord is to come in the east, the deac niay arise and stand witli tbeir facea to ifitu in the resurrection The usage ol centurie lias rooted thie cu.-tom so deeulj tuat it is little wonder (Lat when it i aeparted l'roin, the su perst itious shake tlieii head.s and prophecy tha( no good will come of it. iSome ol' u.s, indeed, who do not in sucli case actually expect anotlier death in the fkmily must confesa to feelins asthough our dead could not rest uioUy it' laid otherwise thau in this time hou iroJ pOM (on. HKTTINfl TIK BOOS! n OBKKtt. l'robahly insurance ngenta are the only leuple who have any idea how uiauy men sensible in other respcets, are kept from nsuring tlitir lives by the fcar, either on tlieir own part or on that of soineolher uember of their families, that the act might shurteu their lives, and their sober business uion who die and leave their estatei to endle-s CtígMÍOQ rather iliau iniiLe a will, because of the vague fear J . - - c tiiu "setting tbeir bonse in order" might has ten the day ol' deitli. From the same fear men refrain from altering or adding to an old housi, and we have knuwo a iuan, prominent in this neighhorhood, weahhy, and otherwise liberal to bJi latiiily, who year after year lived on in a dwellinj? which wms a contiaual mortifiijation to his wife and daughteis, retiating all their entreaties to rebuild, so fully was he convinced that were he to do so his death would oon lullow. This bujiersition is not an uu .¦omiumi one auoog old people. "Say jour prayers, child ; you'll have scven years of trouble," gang .said a lady to the writer when the latter had broken her doll's looking glass. Tlie augury was fulfiiled, but as tour of sevea were black years of the late civil war, the trouble was by no means cootined to the unlucky lookídkkIbss sbatterer. Country folk- soiue in jest, some io earnest - translate the voice of' a chicken cock crowing at tho door iuto "Stranger coming to-day," and we reuieinber an old lady who invariably made preparation tor couipany when the warniiig uote was sounded upon her premiiei. In thirty years, she deelarcd, the sign had nt-rer failed her. The same old lady bad, as a pet, a cat as black a- any whieh ever tiured n tales of necromancy. "Koep a black cat," she used to say, when the hue of her favorite was commented on, "keep a black cat and you'll never lack tbr monev." She was wealthy, but a t'ew miles otl lived an old black crone, mistress of a cat as black as her own, who (the negress, not the cat) had the credit of witchcraft, and who, in spite of her reputed connection with the devil and the ownership of the cat, had hard work to keep soul and body together. DB AT KVKRY 1URN. There are a thousand and one supci sti tions struug upon the thread of our evurydiy lives, and which meet us at every turn. Few of us are wcak enough to let tin ui influencc ouraction, yet uio.-tof usremorn ber them pleasantly now and then, while very many of us, did we own the truth, have one or more omens which wc would prefer not to eDcount.t. ' "I cannot bear to llave my left eye lid quiver," said a lady of cultivation and average iotelligence. "Of course I believe tbere isnoihingin it, butthcn, I can't help feelini; when it does w, as it' troubles were coming." l'ienty of people who ouht to know bitter are tírui believera in the superotition thaf f i ur.lucky 11 place the shoea which one has wirrn during the day otherwise at night tlian with the toe póinting to the door, and caiinnt sleep in peace unless they had done so. Years ago the belief in the ïll omen of spilling .-alt was so prevaleot wat t was ridiculcd by Anderson in the Spectator; but the superstitioo still hoid.i Ita own. The evil may be averted by throwing a pinch of salt over the left houtder, a charm trliicb is clearly a relie it' tlie oíd heathen ceremonial of outing rice in the air, and pouriug libkliooa on the L'1-inind, as a propiiislory offering to the uoseen spirits. Among the siena which ara up)o.sed to furetell deatli are the rioging n the ear, kn.'Wii m the death bell; the death watch (i peculiar nosie caused by a suiall insect cuttinc; its way through wood), or a portrait faMing from its place on the wal!, and each of them has more than once giveii nervjuj persons a fit of the blues. When the eyes of a corpsc refuse to shut they are gha.stly enough, n all conscionce, to give color to the superstition that they are watching lor souie one who is soon to Ibllow, and if a uorse ohaapu to Btumble nt'ar a graveyard its rider uiay be e if lus Minsaticiri.s thereat are none of the maat pleasant, even tliouh he u not M l)uli.sh ax to con-idir il n actual deatn warning. Il a d.ior opM witliiint appurent cause llif (rniKiiis have a .sa iriij, which has coiné a r.iss the water to their American intmm daut, that a spirit has enlered, aud. theould, nerv.iu-s ihtrer, which most persons have feit more or lessoften, is held to rc-nlt from footfalls over the future grave ut fiim who experiences it. There are sick nur.se.s who, at the bedside of the dying, never fail to open door er window that the parting soul m.iy paat out. This superstition i-, I think, of Scotch orinin, and the reader will remetnber Mee Merrilea at the dying bed of the gypsy cbanting: Open look end itrtfl i lome "li-uth und end llfe. DINNER PARTIES. Tralie stories are related in various part,uf the country, at home and abroad, ol evi resulting to tlie unlucky guests at dinuei purtaM ut thirtoen. Many intelligcut and educated pcople hrborod this suspicion. BiaBwrofc, it 1 said, refutes under any cir cuwstances to sit down to a table witti the fatal nuniber, and a prominent business man of New York is reported to owe liistart in Irte tu the ready taut with which he suddeuly reuieoibered a preveías eugageuient, when the failure ot two of the nivitud guests to apie.ir at a dinner given by A. '1'. tewart reduced tliu numbei present to tliirteen, to Mr. Stewart's'fevident annoyanee. All of u.s number auiong our acquaintauces wives whu never remove th.-ir wodditig ring, and whu, were it to slip off aocidentally, would urely expect süiue dire misfortuue. " ¦'I should thiuk hLs earj woulj burn," W a oouimon remark when a person iá made the subject of continued conver:ation, and "so many stit-'hes you take upon you, so many lies will bc told about you," is as frequently quoted when a rent is hastily sewed up without changing the torn garuient. In nearly every laad the moon is the subject oí' nuuierous superstiiions. She regulates the clmnges of the weather- phases uiust be consulted in soapmaking, in killing nieat, in planting, in Jozensot theconimon (lursuits of life, and to see the Dew moon through trees over the left shoulder with no mooey in the pocket, is thought to be terribly unlucky. Should a coal pop out from a wood fire and burn a lady's dres, the event forctells a suitor for her heart and hand, and f two spoons come together iu the sugar dish a wedding in the family is to be exptciej with equal certaioty. "Sing befbre breakfa-t you'll cry before iiight, and "ble.sscd bc the bride the sun shiues on," have passed into lamihar ad ages. öwaliows building o the ehironoy brings jood luck to the house, but not to the dwel,ers tliereiu if the birds be molested. Killitig a cat by ujany is coD.sidered a diré misfortuoe, and he who does it is doomed through lie to failure in everythiag be undertakes. If a strange cat adopts a house voluntarily as a home, she is beiieved to brin? good luck to the houseliold. Nuiubers of intelligeot people keep a pocket pieoe of gold or sil ver tur "good luck. 'Jhe tlovii dances io an empty pocket. And others, general ly old people, would on no account Itave a liori-e shoe ibuud lying in the road without picking it up. An old horse shoe briugs good luck, doubly go if found by the owner. Horaco Greeley always kopt a rusty hom shoe over the door of hls fauctum, and the more or less gilted horse shoo hicb pluys such a part in modiTti ornaineniatnui ia bitupl; the re viral oían old superstition.