Part 66

HANDWRITING.--Third, everybody is given a pen and paper, and asked to write three or four lines of any passage, taken from a newspaper, in the usual handwriting. Anyone who obviously disguises or distorts his or her writing can be dealt a low mark. When all have finished the papers are examined and assessed according to the hints printed under the heading "Qualities Shown in Handwriting, Alphabetically Arranged."

The writing is tested for the following:

Accuracy, Generosity, Ingenuity, Logic and Wit. As the papers take a little time to check, it is advisable for a helper to attend to them while the next item is progressing.

If five marks are the highest awarded for each test, this will account for a further twenty marks.

THE ORACLE.--Fourth, turn to the Oracle on p. 138, and allow each person to rotate the pencil and strike a number, the eyes being shut during the performance.

Give ten points to the player with the lowest score and deduct one point from ten for each successive score.

This will account for a possible total of ten points.

THE ZODIAC WHEEL.--Fifth, the Zodiac Wheel is set up and each person, before being blindfolded, states the month in which he or she was born, and then asks a question. If the wheel answers "Yes," the player receives ten points; if the reply is "probably yes," then the player is awarded six points; while four points are given for the answer "there is a fair chance."

Here the game may end or it may be continued, at will, by introducing further items. If the program we outline is adhered to, the total of possible marks is eighty.

THE LUCK OF WEDDINGS AND MARRIAGES

It seems only natural that many superstitions should cluster around a bride and her wedding day, since from the dawn of civilization, if not the birth of humanity, all the world has loved a lover. Every act of hers, according to lore, is fraught with significance and attended by good or evil fortune, and she is hedged round on every hand by customs and conventions as old as the hills.

LUCKY AND UNLUCKY TIMES

The season of the year is an important consideration. She must avoid Lent if she hopes for good luck, but the forty days following Easter are supposed to be extremely fortunate for the celebration of nuptials; and so is June, which takes its name from Juno, the goddess who is generally regarded as the patroness of womankind.

If she values her prospects of happiness, a bride will avoid May. The belief dates from the time of the Romans, who observed the Festival of the Dead at that time. All other religious ceremonies and observances were neglected for the time being, even the temples were closed, and those who contracted matrimony then were considered to be acting in defiance of the Fates, who revenged themselves on the foolhardy mortals. In Scotland the feeling against May marriages dates back to the time of that most fascinating and tragic figure in history, Mary Stuart, who married her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, then aroused criticism by wearing blue and white, and lived so unhappily all the rest of her life. Superstitious people shook their heads at the temerity of King Alfonso and Princess Ena of Battenberg, who elected to be married on May 31, and were the objects of a dastardly attempt on their lives whilst on their way back to the palace.

WHEN TO MARRY

Marry when the year is new, Always loving, kind, and true. When FEBRUARY birds do mate You may wed or dread your fate. If you wed when MARCH winds blow Joy and sorrow both you'll know. Marry in APRIL when you can-- Joy for maiden and for man. Marry in the month of MAY You will surely rue the day. Marry when JUNE roses blow Over land and sea you'll go. They who in JULY do wed, Must labor always for their bread. Whoever wed in AUGUST be Many a change are sure to see. Marry in SEPTEMBER'S shine Your living will be rich and fine. If in OCTOBER you do marry Love will come, but riches tarry. If you wed in bleak NOVEMBER, Only joy will come, remember. When DECEMBER snows fall fast Marry and true love will last.

Another poet has given us a different version of the same theme:

Married in January's frost and rime, Widowed you'll be before your time; Married in February's sleety weather, Life you'll tread in tune together; Married when March winds shrill and roar, Your home will lie on a foreign shore; Married 'neath April's changeful skies, A checkered path before you lies; Married when bees or May-blooms flit, Strangers around your board will sit; Married in queen-rose month of June, Life will be one long honeymoon; Married in July's flower-banks' blaze Bitter-sweet memories in after days; Married in August's heat and drowse, Lover and friend in your chosen spouse; Married in gold September's glow, Smooth and serene your life will flow; Married when leaves in October thin, Toil and hardship for you begin; Married in veils of November mist, Fortune your wedding ring has kissed; When December's snows fall fast Marry and true love will last.

THE LUCKY WEDDING DAY

Monday for health, Tuesday for wealth, Wednesday the best day of all; Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses, Saturday no luck at all.

MARRIAGE DAY SUPERSTITIONS

Superstitions and customs vary greatly in different countries and periods, but they all bear somehow a strong family resemblance.

For instance, one old English proverb runs: "Blest be the bride that the sun shines on," yet in Germany a bride prays for rain, believing that a new joy comes with each raindrop, and that then all her tears will be shed before, and not after, her wedding. There, too, it used to be the custom to take a lot of old dishes to the door of the bride's house and break them to pieces in the street, and if by any chance one escaped, it was accepted as a bad omen.

In China, however, when a marriage was being arranged, and any article of value, such as a vase or a bowl, was broken the ceremony was postponed.

At the wedding feast in Scandinavia someone makes a speech or sings a song, which ends up in a tremendous noise, and this is the signal for a general peal of laughter and for the guests to present their congratulations to the newly-wedded couple.

The Slavs pour a tankard of beer over the bridegroom's horse for luck, and in the North of England, the maid pours a kettle of hot water over the doorstep to ensure that another wedding will take place ere long from the same house.

A curious idea among the Burmese is that people born on the same day of the week must not marry, and that if they defy the Fates their union will be marked by much ill-luck.

To prevent these disastrous marriages, every girl carries a record of her birthday in her name, each day of the week having a letter belonging to it, and all children are called by a name that begins with that letter.