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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1920)
PAGE 4 THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN THIRTEEN NOT UNLUCKY FOR HIM F or h u n d red s of years the num ber 13 has been r e garded as b rin g in g ce rtain m isfo rtu n e. E ven in the present age of education and en lig h te n m en t, there are m u ltitu d es of people w ho regard it w ith fear and dread. T hese people never th in k of sta rtin g an u n d erta k in g on th e 13th of the m onth; they w ould do alm ost an y th in g to avoid eatin g at a table aro u n d w hich 13 persons are seated; they shun as a pestilence ev ery th in g w hich in any way involves th e fatal num ber. T h e experience of m any from th e earliest tim es would seem to fu rn ish a su b stan tial basis for th is s u perstition, but after all m isfo rtu n es connected w ith 13 for the m ost p a rt are b u t coincidences. U sually cases of so-called bad luck are specially em phasized w hile no-one pays atten tio n to h ap p en in g s w hich tu rn out well, even th o u g h 13 may be m ixed up with them in various wavs. IJoubtless all o th er num bers art quite as unlucky as 13 but no-one notices it; 13 has got a bad rep u tatio n and the su p erstitio u s sim ply w on’t let it live dow n. As is well k n o w n , P resid en t W ilson has found th a t if 13 is any different from o th er num bers it brings him good luck A s'. ill m ore rem arkable case w here 13 has proved lucky ra th e r th a n u n lu ck y is that o f G eorge H aller, of B ellfountaine, O ., who served w ith th e A. E. F. in F ian c e. On July 13 H aller started for the w ar zone in a train m ade up of 13 cars, draw n by engine No. 13 T he sh ip th a t carried him across the A tlan tic was convoyed by 13 vessels and th e voyage consum ed e x actly 13 days. On reaching F rance he was assigned to the 13th divison of en g in eers and q u artered in b a r rack s 13. L ater he got aboard a train of 13 cars, engine N o 13 hauled it onto th e main line and in due tim e it rolled into V erd u n , on track No. 13. S hortly aftei this H a lle r’s org an izatio n was placed under the com m and of the 13th reg u lar officer A fter the arm istice was signed and it appeared that th e trouble was “ over over th e re ” H aller w ith his com rades em barked for the hom ew ard voyage on the 13th of the m onth, reach in g A m erica 13 days later. A fter d eb ark in g engine No. 13 pulled th eir tra in to the dem obilization cam p. H aller was finally d is charged from the service and started hom e, boarding train N o. 13, consisting of 13 cars, on track No. 13. In d u e tim e he reached home safe and sound having been in th e arm y of the U nited States ju st 13 m onths. FOOLING THE WILY FISH I t was form erly the custom am ong th e In d ia n s in h ab itin g C alifornia to “ dance for salm o n ” every sp rin g w hen the fish were ru n n in g . In case this cerem ony failed to accom plish the desired resu lts the “ wise m a n ” of the trilie would fashion a crude im age of a sw im m ing fish. T h is w ould then be placed in th e w ater for the purpose of a ttra c tin g live fish so th at they could be captured w ith the fisherm an’s spears an d nets. F ish erm en ot the prim itive race of A inus, in Japan, tak e q u ain t precautions to avoid spoiling th eir luck at the beginning of th e fishing season. T h ey insist th a t the first fish cau g h t m ust be taken in th ro u g h a w indow instead of thro u g h a door. By doing this they believe th e u n caught fish are prevented from “ se ein g ” and th u s the w ork of the fisherm an is made less difficult. Japanese fisherm en hold th a t strict silence m ust be observed to insure luck in catch in g fish. T hey insist th a t even the women who rem ain at home m ust re frain from speaking lest the fish hear and disapprove. A BAD STATE Mollie C arroll, th e actress who flew over the B ritish em bassy d ro p p in g leaflet« of protest about Ireland, said at a W ashington din n er party the other day: “ Poor Ireland! I know an Irish boy nam ed M ike S hane who im m igrated to A m erica last m onth. W hen he reached here the im m igration officer started to question him . “ W here do you com e from ?’ he says. “ I come from Bally bun ion, ’ says Mike. “ B ally b u n io n ,’ says the im m igration officer. A nd w hat state is B allybunion in?’ “ F aith , s o r r ,’ says M ike, ‘S h e ’s in a horrible state. T h a t ’s why I im m ig rate d .” HAD DONE H I8 SHARE An old gentlem an in a railroad w’aiting-room , a n noyed by some y o u n g sters p lay in g tag around his feet, exclaim ed, “ Stop th a t rack et, c h ild re n !” “ W ell, I like th a t! ” said th e m other in a loud, a n gry tone. “ Now look here, m ad am .” said th e old gentlem an, “ I ’ve raised three fam ilies of children and not a s in gle child was ever allow ed to annoy p eo p le.” “ W e ll,” replied th e irate lady, “ if y o u ’ve raised th re e fam ilies y o u ’ve certainly done your d u ty and I ’ll th an k you to allow me to raise m in e .” A farm er living near C algary, C anada, found several n u g g ets of gold in th e gizzard of a goose w hich he w as dressing for dinner. T h ereu p o n he killed all of his other geese and his duck s as well and obtained a num ber of other nuggets. Im m ediately an e x tra o rdinary dem and for d ucks and geese grow n in th a t section developed and fancy prices were paid for them . T h e ow ner of the gold-m ining geese collected some black sand from Ins farm and th is assayed m ore than 18 g rains of gold to the cubic yard.
