The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, December 01, 1920, Page PAGE TWO, Image 2
WHAT IS YOUR
PET SUPERSTITION?!
_ I
You Have None? Of Cour?e Not! But
See the Voodoos Others Are
Siaves To!
(From the New York Sun)
What is your pet superstition?
"My pet superstition?" you'll pro
bably answer, with elevated eye
brows. "Why, I haven't any. Super
stitions are for the ignorant people."
But pause a moment and rummage
around the shelves of your cerebel
lum among your store of modern in
formation and see if there isn't
tucked away in the corner some old,
.musty, long-forgotten superstition
you'd forgotten was there.
Do you pick up the pin you see
lyin in the street?
If you break a mirror does it give
you a moment's uneasiness? Honest,
npw?
When you knock over the salt cel
lar, do you?not because you believe
it does any good of course, but be
cause it can't do an^ harm?do you
take a pinch and throw it over your
left shoulder?
Do you dislike to accept a two dol
lar bill? Would you give your friend
a knife without adding a penny to
- ?f.?U _11.
break tne cnarm: wouia you w?m
under a ladder? Do you mind being
the thirteenth at dinner?
These superstitions are the most
popular, and they aren't at all con
fined to uneducated, or even uncul
v tured people, as has been demon
strated.
Of recent years an eminent scien
tist who had collected much inter
esting data on superstitions among,
educated people decided to-put his
theory to a high test. He went to
one of the leading universities of this
country.
They Deny Superstitions.
"My pet superstition?" The dig
nified old college professor echoed
the question, removing his eyeglass to
get i better view of the impertinent
stranger. "My dear fellow! Pre
posterous! Superstitions belong to
the dark ages. We live in a period
of culture."
x Whereupon the professor proceed
ed to enlighten the stranger with a
lengthy dissertion on his university
and its high literary standing, say
ing:
"One of the oldest universities in
the country, sir, one of the finest.
At present we have an exceptionally
high attendance. Everything has
been running smoothly " here
the intellectual professor halted to
lean over and tap lightly the wooden
top of his d?sk.
It developed that twenty-six per
cenH of the college professors at this
university were wholly without
superstitions. But some of them had
their fingers crossed.
A great many of our superstitions
have grown up with us through so
many generations that we are hardly
conscious of their presence. Many of
these date back to the early Romans
and Greeks.
Salt in ancient times was used in
religious rites, and supposed to pos
sess propitiary powers. But when
some careless emperor's elbow
knocked the salt dish over its powers
were lost, and the only way to in
sure a peaceful resumption of the
meal was to appease the evil powers
by throwing a pinch of the spilled
salt over the left shoulder.
The superstition connected with a
broken mirror dates from Napoleon's
campaign in Italy, when .he acci
dently broke the glass over the pic
ture pf. Josephine; Since glass ha;l
always been connected in any form
as symbolic of life and death, Na
poleon was overcome with fear that"
some evil had befalleh Josephine.
And because the broken glass caused
the great Emperor uneasiness, the
woman on the street car today pales
when she drops her pocketbook and
her mirror breaks. .
Origia of Other Superstition*.
Other superstitions are supposed to
have originated from theories based
on the workings of the subconscious
mind, or some deductions arrived at
by observing old sages who knew how
to put two and two together.
Giving a knife to a friend, says
the philosopher, was considered a
likely way to bi;eak off a friendship
because it denoted some subsconscious
but sinister thought on the part of
the giver.
He doped out the bad luck that was
supposed to follow a fellow who
walked under a ladder in this wise:
If a fellow is so lazy he takes the
chance of walking under a ladder in
COLLAPSE OF WHEAT
DOES NOT MENACE
PRICE OF BREAD
Some Men Who Claim to Know Say
The Price Will Go Back To
The 1919 Level
Chicago, Nov. 27.?Pessimists can
take comfort. Collapse of the wheat
market does not menace the nation's
supply of bread.
There is plenty of wheat to feed
us. Not a tremendous oversupply nor
a tremendous shortage.
The farmer, raging against the!
low price he had to take for hie
wheat the past few months, is not
going to inflict the reprisal of not
growing wheat. He is not going to
"cf-rntp"?holdiner
tJcn i y uia iuv^hv ? w
back wheat shipments for $3 a bu
shel?to the length of going out of
business.
These reassuring words are a di
gest of the opinons of grain brokers
wheat growers, millers, railroad men
and wheat experts generally, ob
tained in a survey of the situation.
Readjustment is coming, they say,
Everyone, with a single exception,
predicts an increase in the price of
wheat. Conservative ones do not
look for a return of "war prices,"
but an increase sufficient to satisfy
the farmer.
The one exception is a well-known
grain broker who thinks wheat
prices will stay under $2 a bushel.
Peak wheat prices were $3.23 a
bushel. The government war-time
guarantee was $2.26. Wheat recent
ly dropped to $1.75. Before the
war it wa3 90 cents. The ; Depart
ment of Agriculture thinks, with
present labor conditions, the farmer
should get $2.65 to make a fair
profit.
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR
AMERICA DEMANDED
OF GREAT BRITAIN
Washington Insists Upon Equal
Rights For All Nations In
Territories Placed Under
British Rale by Mandates
Washington, Nov. 27.?Frank rep
resentation to the British govern
ment that the United States will in
sist upon strict applicaion of the
principle of equal opportunity and
treatment for all nations in terri
tories placed under the British or
other mandate by the peace treaties
was conveyed in a note by Secretary
Colby to Earl Curzon, the British
secretary of state for foreign af
fairs, made public here following
its delivery to the British govern
ment early this week. ?
Discussing specifically the ques
tion of the British mandate in Meso
potamia, Secretary Colby's note,
cvhich was in reply to an unpublish
ed British note of last August 9, de
:lared the American government
'finds difficulty in reconciling" the
issurances of equal treatment for
ill nations in British mandates given
;herein with the special agreement
jetween France and Great Britian
'egarding the petroleum resources
>f Mesopotamia. Secretary Colby,
ipginb fullest publicity for all pro
josed mandate agreements and
reaties, asserted the right of the
Jnited Statest and all the associated
4-1
/vwcid rcgai uicaa vi wiieuier mvy
ire members of the League of Na
tions, to consider such agreements
ind to "ful participation in the,
ights and privileges secured under
nandates provided in the peace
;reaties."
jtead of going around, he's likely to
neet with an accident before long.
Picking up a pirn he says is a
;hrifty habit, and the man who picks
t up is both saving and observant,
ind so likely to have success in what
>vtr he does.
is for the innocent two-dollar bill,
t got its reputation when some care
less shopper first handed it out by
mistake for a one dollar bill and
didn't get the right change. And the
poor two-dollar bill, that really is as
nice as any of the Long Green family
has been regarded with a cold and
suspicious eye.
The bride who drops her ring
shows she is either careless or indif
ferent to her husband, says the
philosopher, so can you wonder that
their married life isn't going to be
smooth?
And here the musty old hander out
of information leaves us with some
thing to think about.
"The custom of the wedding ring,
now that we are on the subject," he
tells us with his dryest smile, "dates
back to the savage tribes. This, one
of our most respected customs, had
its origin, too, in one of the early
superstitious rites."
PRINCIPLES LAID
DOWN BY COLBY
MAY BE ACCEPTED
Washington, Nov. 27.?Fear of re
prisals by the United States is ex
pected to induce Great Britain to ac
cept the principles laid down in Sec
retary Colby's note demanding equal
participation in oil fields and other
fields of enterprise in mandate ter
ritories it was learned officially today.
The oil-leasing act passed by con
gress and forbidding the entrance of
foreigners into American oil fields
unless Americans are given the same
privilege in territory controlled by I
foreign nations, gives the United j
States a decided whip land in the con-j
troversy. More British capital than
that of any other foreign nation is
now invested in American fields, one
company obtaining 47 per cent of its
production from thib source.
It is learned that in addition to
sending the formal note Secretary;
Colby made sure that the term of this
law were called to the attention of the
British government.
These developments became known
following a visit by Sir Auckland Ged
des, the British ambassador, to the
the state department, this afternpon.
The ambassador was in conference
with Secretary Colby for two hours
but declined to make a statement as
to the reason for his visit. It was
generally understood, however, that
it had to do with the Colby note.
If Great Britain yields on the point
of equal opportunity in mandate ter
ritory for all nations it is probable
she will yield also on the other point
insisted upon by Secretary Colby,
that the United States be made ac
quainted with the provisions of all
submitted to the league of nations.
Numerous reasons exist as to why
Great Britain would be unwilling to
permit such a demand as this to dis
turb the harmonious relations be
tween the two tountries, although it
strikes at the very heart of the old
world practice of making territorial
distributions by secret agreement.
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