10 Introductory
can be traced to a foreign ancestry, just as they say all the old jokes can be traced back to Noah. Yet if Yankee cuteness did not share in the originating of them, it has given its peculiar local twist to a large number of them.
One man who has made a study of the subject affirms that superstition, in our most cultured communities, is so general that no woman in Massachusetts, for instance, would invite a party of thirteen to dine together. There are plenty of women who would not themselves object to being one of a dinner party of thirteen; but they would not call together such a number, because among the guests there would be sure to be some who would be disturbed. The statement seems to me too sweeping, though I think there is much truth in it; and I have known parties which happened to number thirteen where great pains were taken to procure an extra guest, or to have a part of those present eat at a side-table. It is certain that signs and sayings flourish in the society life of our towns. Indeed, you cannot tell with certainty who will believe them and who disbelieve; for there are still men of wise repute and high
