I was allotted a certain homely red-haired girl, to whom I have a particular aversion. The next day, I threw the key away in disgust."

Still another resents the fact that a man with any intellect can be superstitious. He feels that psychical research and hypnotism are far more interesting:

"I have one superstition, and that is that a man who is superstitious should be avoided. He is certainly a bore and probably lacking in intellect. It takes a woefully deficient sense of proportion to picture the Almighty on the watch for those who break mirrors or spill the salt. There may be truth in "lucky numbers" but if there is, then, in my opinion, the times are out of joint, and such truth should remain concealed in the valve of the reservoir where, proverbs tell us, it belongs. I am interested in psychical research and in hypnotism. I am not one of those who declare loudly that 'all mediums are frauds'; some one might ask me if I had studied the subject. But in the matter of superstitions I can speak with authority. In my youth I have shattered mirrors, walked under ladders and played with the salt. . . and nothing serious happened. On the whole the only really unlucky thing is to believe in luck."

One man feels that mental telepathy is more worthy of study:

"Superstition, thank Heaven, is one hallucination which has never troubled me. I believe in mental telepathy and instances of 'mental stunts', but as regards superstition I can say truly that I have never seen anything to prove that there is anything in it."

The next feels that religion is a superstition and, as he is an agnostic, he cannot be expected to have any such beliefs. He is also one of many who feel that he is free from superstition if he always goes out of his way to court "No. 13."

"I take great joy in doing everything that I am told will bring me 'bad luck.' I always make it a point, in fact, I go out of my

way, to knock the little fat god Superstition on the head. I have no objection to walking under a ladder except when it is used by a painter, and then it is a case of 'discretion is the better part of valor.' I suppose partly out of mere bravado, I always ask for 'Number 13.' This feeling, or rather, lack of feeling towards fetishes is due to the fact that I am an Agnostic. With me Agnosticism is not merely a newly acquired fact, but a result of my bringing up. I have never been led—that is, guided by my parents in any belief in divine power or being. In fact, I look upon religion as a superstition."

The opposite view is taken by another:

"I am a Christian—at least it is my ambition to be one-and in my opinion a true Christian should have no superstitions. Superstition is merely a remnant of heathenism."

A still keener religious attitude is shown in the following:

"I do not believe in Fetishes. Fetishes are in fact little idols and as such have no place where the Bible reveals to men the only way to reconciliation with God. That men in a civilized land believe in the same little gods that the Indians and the other barbaric peoples do, shows the need of the proclamation of the good news of salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Man is a religious animal and if he does not, because of ignorance or self-will, know God, he will turn to graven images and bow down to them. It is a hopeful sign, in that it shows that the man feels the need of divine help, in the problems, and crises of his life. With the same breath one can sympathize with his misplaced faith and credulity because of the utter impotency of the fetish to help him. His only hope for supernatural guidance and for all tests and trials of life is to know the only and the true God and to "turn from idols to serve the living God.'"

The two preceding writers would agree with Plutarch, who has much that is valuable to say regarding superstitious. He remarks, "Ignorance and uninstructedness concerning the Gods may be compared to a river divided into two streams, one of which, as in stubborn souls,

produceth Atheism; and the other of which, as in marshy soils, produceth Superstition."

Another theme denies superstition without bringing in religion:

"Personally I am very much against any outward showing of superstitions, and have the tendency to do everything against such beliefs. If I see a ladder I walk under it. I have no reason to believe that '13' is unlucky, nor do I spend my spare hours in seeking four-leaved clovers . . . As for me 'I am from Missouri.'

A final theme shows resentment, but, this time, it is because the privacy of life is invaded.

"Why should one be asked to betray himself in writing of his personal superstitions? Should one be asked to betray himself to satisfy the collective instinct or the eccentricities of a College 'Prof'? Should not superstitions be held as sacred to the one possessing them, something in the manner he regards his 'individual god' or his Patron Saint? Those that regard themselves as not possessing personal superstitions may be accused of hiding them with the purpose of being different from other people. Those that have superstitions would be ashamed of them as a relic of their primitive ancestors. They should be considered as more demoralizing than little personal faults. He who is superstitious has no place in America of the Twentieth Century."

One student does cherish a four-leaf clover, but not on superstitious grounds:

"I pick up a four-leaf clover because it is rare and furnishes a topic for conversation."

The next essay explains very accurately and very well the background of superstition in modern life:

"We live, so much like our predecessors of every age and clime, we live, we say, in the age of enlightenment. But with all our harnessing of the forces of nature, we have not rid ourselves of many common superstitions, beliefs and practices, relics of mediaeval barbarism, the legacy of folklore of the dark ages

when all the lights were turned out and nobody dared to do any independent thinking. 'Tis superstition as well as conscience that makes cowards of us all, every mother's son of us, be he poet or peasant, prince or pauper, scientist or street-urchin, Secretary of Foreign Affairs or chimney sweep . . . There is no positive good or bad but only relative. Just so, we may boast that we are not superstitious but that only means that we do not know ourselves as well as we know others . . I say 'Pooh, pooh' to all this rot, as I call it, about Friday, the 13th, black cats, etc. But that will assuredly be an extraordinary day when you will find me putting on my left shoe first or stepping on the cracks in a cement sidewalk."

The usual attitude of the student and the average point of view towards superstition, throughout the modern world, are shown in the two following themes:

"Do I believe in fetishes or am I superstitious? At first, without considering the matter, I would say 'no' to both questions, but after examining my mind for a few minutes I am forced to admit that I am to some degree superstitious. Shortly before the hour examinations in November, I found a four-leaf clover in a book which I bought at a second-hand store. Although I would deny that I am superstitious, yet I carried that clover leaf to several examinations. As I was not satisfied with my work in these examinations, I decided that the clover leaf was bringing me 'bad luck,' and threw it away. In my belief, no matter how cultivated or educated a man may be, he still retains some slight traces of the superstitious beliefs of his ancestors."

...

"I cannot say that I actually believe in superstitions and charms: yet, when I become aware of them, when I am unconsciously doing something, I can hardly refrain from making use of them. Often, I never think of making use of the 'knocking wood' charm, yet at times when I make a remark appropriate for it, I cannot for the life of me refrain from knocking wood; although at the time I know it is all foolishness. I argue against my common sense, that performing these charms can do no harm, but it is best to take every safeguard possible. I have the same feeling when I am walking with a friend and we pass on different sides of a post, or when I go beneath a ladder.

But the number 13 has rather the opposite effect upon me. I consider it lucky. I have one superstition, rather original as far as I am concerned, of not risking entering the water if I have done anything peculiar just beforehand. I remember one day I returned a long way back to the bath-house because I had not taken the usual path to the water."

Personally, I must confess, I sympathize with the views of the author of the following "finely written" theme, after a more or less intimate knowledge of the types of men who are somewhat superstitious and those who view with disdain any suggestion of the kind:

"Says Kipling to his 'Barrack-room' mates:

'You may talk o' gin and beer

When you're quartered safe out 'ere, etc.,

But when it comes to slaughter,

You will do your work on water, etc.'

Just so. You may talk not in the light of calm reason and the throes of philosophic reflection about the foolishness and paganism of superstition. But out on the firing-line of lifenot kid-glove life, that benevolent yeast called 'the social whirl'; not even the life of the great middle class-but down at the bottom, the simple, the ignorant human life of the masses-the root from which those higher forms first sprouted, the rude trunk fundamental to the existence of the more beautiful branchesthere is where you find your 'slaughter' and there you find no thought of the downright foolishness of superstition, for there they are content to go 'ignorant' if 'knowledge' means a weakening of their blind hold on life and it does. Where the fighting is thickest, there are the strongest superstitions-and there, too, strange to say, are the men with the strongest personalities. When a man begins to throw away his little superstitions people say he is building character. Yes, but I am afraid that at the same time he is throwing away little by little his personality, that which made him feel his own peculiarities-himself as distinguished from the rest of the world. He begins to become more and more the literal 'thinking machine'; he is headed straight towards the life of the stoic scientist-a man doubtless