general acceptance by the public at large, like certain moral evils,
which it is felt to be an almost hopeless task to do away with. Other
good, easy souls choose to ignore the presence of fortune-tellers,
astrologers, palmists among their daily haunts. As a matter of fact,
however, fortune-telling, astrology, and palmistry have become so fully
incorporated with the everyday life of all large communities as to
excite very little comment from the common run of us.
It certainly would astonish some people if they knew to what an
extent these methods of hoodwinking the credulous, or weak-minded,
continue to flourish in our large cities, without the least attempt
at concealment or disguise. One need only look about him to see the
signs of these shrewd charlatans everywhere staring him in the face, or
run his eye over the columns of the daily papers to be convinced how
far superstition still lives and thrives in the chosen strongholds of
modern thought and modern scepticism. At fairs and social gatherings
fortune-telling and palmistry have come to be recognized features,
either as a means of raising funds for some highly deserving object,
of course, or for the sake of the amusement they afford, at the
expense of those well-meaning souls who do not know how to say no. To
be sure, it has come to be thoroughly understood that no benevolent
object whatsoever has a chance of succeeding nowadays without some sort
of nickel-in-the-slot attachment, by which the delusion of getting
something for your money is so clumsily kept up.
At fairs, for instance, it is not necessary that the oracle of
fortune should speak. Time is saved and modern progress illustrated
and enforced by having printed cards ready at hand to be impartially
distributed to all applicants on the principle of first come, first
served. As the victim receives his card, he laughs nervously, fidgets
around a few minutes, goes aside into some quiet corner and furtively
reads, “Fortune will be more favorable to you in future than it has
been.”
Unwittingly, perhaps, yet none the less, has he paid his tribute to
superstition, thus thriftily turned to account.
The penny-in-the-slot machines, so often seen in public places, tell
fortunes with mechanical precision, and in the main, impartially,
evident care being taken not to render the oracle unpopular by giving
out disagreeable or alarming predictions. True, they are just a
trifle ambiguous, but does not that feature exactly correspond with
the traditional idea of the ancient oracle, which was nothing if not
ambiguous? Here is a sample, “You will not become very rich, but be
assured you will never want for anything.”
Fortune-telling also is openly carried on at all popular summer
resorts, with considerable profit to the dealer in prophecies, who
is generally an Indian woman. She is much consulted by young women,
“just for the fun of the thing.” Roving bands of gypsies continue to
do a more or less thriving business in the country towns. Character is
unfolded or the future foretold by the color of the eyes, the length or
breadth of the finger nails or of the eyebrows.
Telling fortunes by means of tea grounds is often practised at social
gatherings.
“For still, by some invisible tether
Scandal and tea are linked together.”
It is done in this way: When drinking off the tea, the grounds are made
to adhere to the sides of the tea-cup, by swiftly twirling it round and
round. The cup is then inverted, turned thrice and no more, after which
the spell is completed, and the mistress of the revels proceeds to tell
the fortunes of those present, with neatness and despatch.
Time has worked certain marked changes in the method of practising
this equivocal trade. The modern fortune-teller no longer inhabits a
grewsome cavern, reached by a winding path among overhanging rocks,
and choked with dank weeds, or goes about muttering to herself in an
unknown tongue, or is clothed in rags. Far from it. She either occupies
luxurious apartments in the best business section, or in a genteel
up-town hotel, or dwells in a fashionable quarter of the town, and
dresses _à la mode_. Nor are her clients by any means exclusively drawn
from among the lowly and ignorant, as might be supposed, but more
often come from the middle class of society; and, though consultations
are had in a private manner, those who ply this trade do so without
fear or disguise.
Of the thousand and one matters submitted to the dictum of
fortune-tellers, those relating to love affairs or money matters are
by much the most numerous. On this head just a few selections, taken
at hazard from the advertising columns of a morning newspaper, perhaps
will afford the best idea of the nature of the questions most commonly
addressed to these disposers and dispensers of fate. One reads, “Mrs
Blank: consult her on all business, domestic or love affairs. Unites
separated parties.” A shrewd offer that! The next, who styles himself
“Doctor” is an astrologer. He invites you to send him your sex, with
date and hour of birth; or a full description. All matters, he naïvely
declares, are alike to him. For the trifling matter of one dollar he
promises “a full reading”--presumably of your horoscope. The next, a
trance and business medium, professes to be able to tell the “name of
future husband or wife, and all affairs of life.” Still another, after
setting forth her own abilities in glowing colors, warns a trusting
public, after the manner of all quacks, to beware of imitators.
As an indication to what extent these forms of superstition flourish,
it would be vastly interesting to know just how many persons there
are in the United States, for instance, who get their living by such
means. Enough, perhaps, has been said to open the eyes of even the
most sceptical on this point. We may add that the modern applicant for
foreknowledge is not satisfied with the obscure generalizations of the
ancient oracles. He or she demands a full and explicit answer, and will
be satisfied with nothing less.
Moll Pitcher, of Lynn, who practised her art in the early part of the
century, was the most famous, as she was by far the most successful,
fortune-teller of her day. In fact, her reputation was world-wide, it
having been carried to every port and clime by the masters and sailors,
who never failed to consult her about the luck of the voyage. Her
supposed knowledge of the future was also much drawn upon by the highly
respectable owners themselves, who, however, possibly through deference
to some secret qualms, generally made their visits at night, sometimes
in disguise.[27] Indeed, stories little short of marvellous are told
of this cunning woman’s skill at divination, or luck at guessing,
according as one may choose to look at the matter. Besides being the
subject of the poet Whittier’s least-known verses, a long forgotten
play was written with Moll Pitcher as its heroine, after the manner of
Meg Merrilies, in Sir Walter Scott’s “Guy Mannering.”
From the earliest to the latest times, the astrologers have always
claimed for their methods of divination the consideration due to
established principles or incontrovertible facts. The court astrologer
was once quite as much consulted as the court physician. Though fallen
from this high estate, and even placed under the ban of the law as a
vagabond and charlatan, the astrologer still continues to ply his trade
among us with more or less success; and, unless we greatly err, the
craft even has an organ, called not too appropriately, “The Sphinx,” as
the Sphinx has never been known to speak, even in riddles.
Palmistry is the name now given to fortune-telling by means of the
hand alone. Formerly there was no such distinction. After looking
her client over, the fortune-teller of other days always based her
predictions upon a careful scrutiny of the hand. Some careless
hit-or-miss reference to the past, at first, such as “you have seen
trouble,” usually preceded the unravelling of the future. The disciples
of palmistry now claim for it something like what was earlier claimed
for phrenology and physiognomy. Every one knows that palmistry openly
thrives in all large communities as a means of livelihood. How many
practise it in private, no one can pretend to say, but the number is
certainly very large. It is a further fact that some surprising guesses
at character now and then occur, but we must hold to the opinion that
they are still only guesses, nothing more.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “L’Inconnu et les Problems Psychiques.”
[2] Wallington, “Historical Notices, Reign of Charles I.”
[3] Chap. 15, 32 v.
[4] Candlemas Day (2 February) is observed as a festival day by the
Roman Catholics, and still holds a place in the calendar of the
Episcopal Church. It is kept in memory of the purification of the
Virgin, who presented the infant Jesus in the Temple. A number of
candles were lighted, it is said in memory of Simeon’s song (Luke ii,
32), “A light to lighten the Gentiles.” Hence the name of Candlemas.
Edward VI. forbade the practice of lighting the churches in 1548.
[5] See the ominous import of this farther on.
[6] The white and purple spiræa.
[7] For the ill omens of nosebleed, see Chapter ix.
[8] It was commonly believed that the haddock bore the mark of St.
Peter’s thumb, ever since that saint took the tribute penny out of a
fish of that species.
[9] It is deemed lucky to be born with a caul or membrane over the
face. In France _être né coiffée_ signifies that a person is extremely
fortunate. It is believed to be an infallible protection against
drowning, and under that idea is frequently advertised for sale in the
newspapers and purchased by seamen. If bought by lawyers they become
as eloquent as Demosthenes or Cicero, and thereby get a great deal of
practice.--FIELDING.
[10] Edward Winslow makes use of this word in speaking of an Indian
who had been taken prisoner at Plymouth, and confined in the fort
newly built there. “So he was locked in a chain to a staple in the
court of guard and there kept. Thus was our fort handselled, this
being the first day, as I take it, that ever any watch was there
kept.”--Winslow’s “Relation.”
[11] Mr. Coxe.
[12] More concerning throwing the shoe will be found under “Marriage.”
[13] Note the poetical reference in another chapter.
[14] _Boston Transcript_, February 13, 1899.
[15] In “Farmer and Moore’s Collections,” i., 136.
[16] Another way, laid down by some authorities, was that any unmarried
woman fasting on Midsummer Eve, and at midnight laying a clean cloth
with bread, cheese, and ale, and sitting down as if going to eat--the
street door being left open--the person whom she is afterwards to marry
will come into the room and drink to her by bowing, afterwards fill the
glass, make another bow, and retire.--_Fielding._
[17] A reference to this is found in Cooper’s “Spy.”
[18] Quetelet, on the calculation of probabilities.
[19] May Martin was made to touch the face of her dead child (murdered
by her to prevent a discovery), the fresh blood came forth, “whereupon
she confessed.”
[20] For more about these places see “New England Legends.”
[21] Partly taken from Felt’s “Annals of Ipswich,” partly from the
relations of others.
[22] The rule, as laid down by Cotton Mather in “More Wonders” was
this: “When there has been a murder committed, an apparition of the
slain party accusing of any man, altho’ such apparitions have oftner
spoke true than false, is not enough to convict the man of that
murder; but yet it is a sufficient occasion for Magistrates to make a
particular inquiry,” etc.
[23] “Forty-one Years in India.”
[24] An apple bough also is made use of in some cases.
[25] According to the prophecy in Joel ii, 10, and Matthew xxiv, 29,
then “shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.”
[26] In “Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast.”
[27] For more about her, see “New England Legends and Folk-Lore.”
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Frequent use of dialect and archaic spelling retained.
Simple typographical errors were corrected. Occasional unmatched
quotation marks were retained.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
Page 19: the closing quotation mark after “lost his head.” has no
matching opening mark.