It’s October, the scary month, with a Super Harvest Moon and giant skeletons appearing in front of every other McMansion. And with all the frightening things on the news both morning and night, I think it’s time for another Cautionary Tale.

Just remember, strange things are happening.

Today’s Cautionary Tale addresses a problem that affects adults as well as children. Hoffman writes of it in the mid-nineteenth century, and anyone who has recently tried to navigate a city sidewalk will relate.

Here’s to everyone of us whose mother ever said, “Watch where you’re going!”