41 



LOCAL SUPERSTITIONS. 



By W. J ARD I N E. 



(Read at Longtmvn.) 



A GREAT deal of our early information, and more especially that 

 concerning the manners and customs of life, is traditional. Also, 

 notwithstanding that man is endowed with brilliant reasoning 

 faculties ; notwithstanding that the present age is one of progress ; 

 it is wonderful how much imitation there is in the manners and 

 customs of everyday life. Hence we do certain things, and these 

 in certain ways, simply because they have been so done by our 

 forefathers ; also, for the same reason, we believe certain things. 

 Superstitions may in a certain sense be said to be hereditary : they 

 are handed down from generation to generation. They are local 

 to this extent — that in certain forms they may be peculiar to certain 

 districts ; also the interpretations put upon the same superstition 

 may vary in different localities. It is chiefly, however, in country 

 districts that they are most prevalent ; and, although we are slowly 

 outliving them, our own neighbourhood is rich in superstitions. 



Let us notice a few reasons why superstitions are believed in. 

 (i) Because forecasts are vague, and interpretations may be traced 

 somehow in the chances of life. (2) The penalty of ill omens is 

 so dreaded, that the credulous shrink from putting them to the 

 test. (3) There are nervous cures, and love-charms, and dreams, 

 in which anxious consciousness points right — the wish being father 

 to the thought. (4) Victims of superstition are secretly pleased 



