The peacock’s feathers were supposed to be unlucky, from an old tradition associating its gaudy colors with certain capital sins, which these colors were held to symbolize. Nevertheless, this tall and haughty feather has been much the fashion of late years as an effective mantel ornament, showing how reckless some people can be regarding the prophecy of evil. Getting married before breakfast is considered unlucky. It would be quite as logical to say this of any other time of the day; hence unlucky to get married at all, though it is not believed all married people will cordially subscribe to this heresy. May is an unlucky month to be married in. So, also “If you marry in Lent You will live to repent.” Old Burton says, “Marriage and hanging go by destiny; matches are made in heaven.” Getting out of bed on the wrong side bodes ill luck for the rest of the day. A common remark to a person showing ill-humor is, “I guess you got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.” It has in fact become a proverb. To begin dressing yourself by putting the stocking on the left foot first would be trifling with fortune. I know a man who would not do so on any account. It is also unlucky to put a right foot into a left-hand shoe, or _vice versa_. These are necessary corollaries of the “right-foot-foremost” superstition. According to that merry gentleman, Samuel Butler:-- “Augustus having b’oversight Put on his left shoe for his right, Had like to have been slain that day, By soldiers mutining for their pay.” Cutting the finger nails on the Sabbath is a bad omen. There is a set of rhymed rules for the doing of even this trifling act. Apparently, the Chinese know the omen, as they do not cut the nails at all. Of the harmless dragon-fly or devil’s darning-needle, country girls say that if one flies in your face it will sew up your eyes. In some localities I have heard it said that if two persons walking together should be parted by a post, a tree, or a person, in their path, something unlucky will surely result-- “Unless they straightway mutter, ‘Bread and butter, bread and butter.’” Low, the pirate, would not let his crew work on the Sabbath, not so much, we suppose, from conscientious scruples, as for fear it would bring him bad luck. The rest of the Decalogue did not seem to bother him in the least. After having once started on an errand or a journey, it is unlucky to go back, even if you have forgotten something of importance. All persons afflicted with frequent lapses of memory should govern themselves accordingly. This belief seems clearly grounded upon the dreadful fate of Lot’s wife.