THIRTEEN SUPERSTITION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1649, 16 January 1913, Page 5

THIRTEEN SUPERSTITION.

A UNIQUE BANQUET,

• Mr. Harry, Furniss. writes as 'follows.in the' London "Observer":—. ; 1 jD«ar Sir,—ln. your last issue .."Verax" invites. me-ras posßibly-the only survivor of tho . London Thirteen ,Club's . laiuous banquet, :whic'l) took plac.6 on January. 13, ncariy-.thirteen, years; ago—to enlighten your readers ' "'on. tho matter, • and tell whether and, if so, why tho .club Was dissolved." " .r' . i " ■ I can only inform "Verai" I am still very, much alive and kicking—kicking at the silly superstitions of. .those'who becoinb .siavts to indigestion and fear."l really -know; nothing of the other twelve chairmen or; of th« 'thirteen .hundred or so. diners T presided .over on, that extraordinary evening. ■ :I do not think,.l.-was personally: acquainted with one of them. 'I'-: was, however,, acquainted, with . maiiy .well-known men Who wore invited, and funked. . My old friend Sir Frank Lock-, wood was to have sat on my right—ho got as far'-as'tho Garrick Club, 'dinedalone, .and when I went there, .'after my duties at the Thirteen Club Banquet. 1 ,fouud him still in .. . a trombling' state. Osfiar. Wilde wrote, declaring ho loved .superstitions:—'"i'hoy are the, colour element of thought and imagination. .They, 'are!'/.the .opponents of .'common-sense. Common-sense.is,the enemy ,of,romance,!and added,' "I am sura you will. all ,bo charming, but I:.could not come, though 13 is a lucky number." Sir Augustus Harris would' not admit ho -was superstitious, but he failed' to turn up.• So did Janus Payn. Sir . Henry Irving declared ho sympathised ' with the object of tho olub, and wished that lie: could be present, "to drink: cOnfusiorf to "old Women's fables," and aded/"When ! am. able to produce; a<' play -with thirteen peoplo in it, .] shall feel I ihave .pot' been' one of your "honorary members in 'vain!" .' Andrew Lang'! wrote'.leaders in the daily, .press protesting against 'ihe mischievous' object of the club—the holding up of. superstition to'ridicule. My friend Linley Sambourne refused to be my guest, as he was, he 'declared, "Soaked in superstition!'; and there were others; .Where,are..:they.:nbw?l Alas! "not one of these "I mention'ii with us to-day. '-' . As my connection, yrjth-tho,- club,.began' and ended..with, that m.uch-boome<V ban-, qUet," I; really; cannot infofm "Verax" how' thq club came into existence, or.why 'it went ou.t.'.lt :.was,, I; believe,, an imitation of th« .famous Thirteen' Club of New York, and owed its brief popularity to the. energy of .'its. founder, Mr. < William Han- ; nett ;JJlan6h. That unique banquet was its '-climax; it'was,, the talk of tho .town. The newspapers made much capital out.of-it. Mr; Blanch must have worked, hard to crown it with such glory, and gruesome'ness.-, He liad scoured England for crosseyed gaiters. •; The decorations'of No. 13 dining-room wero wonderful and fearful to behold; I. still have tho, skulls that, were on the table in frdnt of me, with 'candles' in' them;. and the coffin salt cellars, and tho peacock buttonhole I wore with the. ■ little paper skeleton attached. The knife I'was presented with'has disappeared, so Jws: the club,. I am even to this day receiving interesting items'connected with, the Thirteen'superstition,, and when I get timo I shall finish writing my/book on ."Tho (Slaves of Superstition." I am not writing ,this book, to 'try . and ;.rob ' any reader'who.believes in spectral and-super-natural appearances' of any. of their' joys in so doing.. When I became a member of the Thirteen Club I did not do so with the silly'objeot , of . scofiihg at the little weaknesses of those wlio'care to believe in the superstitious. I'.took it up. seriously, because T know from experience. that many sensible men are made absolutely foolish by .believing in.'.myths, that strong' mon are'made weak, and , I may, even go'so. far. as 'to say that -honest men' become dishonest. .-A man : who, has a fatal number is a man doomed to a'life of misery. .