The Red Cloud chief., 1881-03-03

Luck In Odd numbers HeIiotropc and Ma
rigoid Insects and Birds Crtck-ts,s wai-
lows and Ravens.
WHEN Rory O'Morc, the hero of
Samuel Lovers popular ballad. emphat-
ically proclaimed that ''there's luck in
odd numbers" he may not have been
aware how and where that sentiment
originated.
Ii is counterpoised by the general
impression that it is uniucky for thir-
teen 10 sit down TO a meal together.
Thisi is supposed to have arisen out of
the fact that the Paschal supper was
partaken of by thirteen.
The Romans had a saying, which is
translated into 'God loves an odd num-
bcr.n This superstition is mentioned
by Virgil, in his poems about farming.
which. after a lapse of nineteen centu-
ries, show what agriculture formerly
WIS.
Though the '.luck in odd numbers"
bc provcrbial, through many ages down
10 the present time, the number thir-
teen, as above mentioned, would seem
10 be an exception; and many hold, with
their forefathers, that when thirteen
persons meet in n room, n of them will
die within a year.
In country places, throughout Eu-
rope, the good women who have charge
of the poultry almost invariably set an
odd number of eggs. Medicines are
directed TO be taken three, seven, or
nine times. Salutes with cannon con-
sist of an odd number; and a royal sa-
luto is thrice seyen. or twenty-one, ord
nance discharges.
In England, UP TO a late period, when
science took the place of superstition.
the life insurance offices operated on
the presumption that oat of thirteen
persons taken unfortunately n will
die within the year.
Over n cavern close to Peel Castle. in
the Isle of Man. is a chapel supported
by thirteen pillars. Popular belief is,
that any stranger entering il out of
curiosity and emitting to count the pill
lars. will do something TO occasion his
confinement in the adjacent prison.
From time immemorial it has been
the belief in country districts of Eu-
gland that the seventh son of a seventh
son, no daughter being born between,
is an infallible doctor, born with an in
tuitive knowledge of the healing art,
and often performing great cures by
touching only.
Mans elimacteral wear is sirty-three
the ninth of seven-which numbers.
being multiplied together, produce that
sum total. which is important in human
life. :
As regards eren numbers, it has been
remarked that British monarchs who
were the second of any name (such as
William III. Henry III. Edward ii, Rich
ard II, Charles III and james Il) were
unfortunate Princes. h
IL has been claimed, whether correct
ly or not has often been a matter of as
~sertion, doubt and curiosity. that the
sunflower (HelianthuS annuus OF bot
anists) turns TO the sun with curious
fidelity. 1T may not be generally known.
but is stated in John Willford's Ma
lures Secret a copioaS and curious
folio, Published in 1741, that other
plants were reputed to have the sun
worship: These are the helictrope and
the marigold. Oddly enough, the name
of the former of these plants is account
ell for by classical fable, which derives
1T from two Greek words (hetiOS, the
san. , and trepo, to turn). from the
legend that Clytie was turned into this
flower through gazing at Apollo. These
Two flowers are, or were, supposed to
turn toward the suns rays all the day.
shutting UP shop in the evening. 1t
was thought that they presaged stormy
weather by closing or contracting their
leaves. =
In like manner tells, or fuller's
thistle, formerly cultivated largely by
manufacturers forraising a nap on WOOL
en- broadcloth, was believed, when hung
up in an airy place in a house, to grow
smoother when cold and windy weather
was at hand, and to close up its prickles
against rain. Pine-apples are supposed
to do the same. The leaves of trees
and plants in general shake and trem-
bic in stormy weather. and tender buds,
delicate flowers and blossoms seem to
withdraw within their husks and leaves
by way of security against the storm.
1t is an old belief in European lands
that when roses and violets flourish in
the autumn, it is a premonition of a
plague, or some other pestiferous dis
ease. in the ensuing year. s.
These popular superstitions are nu-
merous, and harmless, for the most
part. They extend from the human to
the whole animal creation-to insects
and plants, to birds and beasts. to fishes