Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1881-02-12


directed to be taken three, seven, or
nine times. Salutes with cannon con-
sist Of an odd number; and royal sa-
lutte is thrice seven. 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 out of thirteen
persons taken indiscriminately one will
die within the year.
Over cavern close to Peel Castle. in
the Isle of Man. is 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 true immemorial it has been
the belief in country districts OF En-
gland that the seventh son of seventh
son, no daughter being born between,
is an infalii5le doctor, born with an in
tuitive knowledge of the healing art,
and often performing great cures by
touching only.
Mans climacteral year is sirty-tiree
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 anv name (such rs
William III, Henry III, Edward III, Rich
ard III. Charles III and James ID were
unfortunate Princes.
Ia L. Ionu .la;p,aJ vhathpr enrraet-
| " or not has often been I matter OF as
sertion, doubt and curiosity. that the
suntiower (iielianthus 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" copious and curious
folio, published in 174l, that other
plants were reputed to have the sun
worship. These are the heliotrope and
the marigold. Oddly enough. the name
of the former Of these plants is account
ed for by classical fable, which derives
it from two Greek words (hetios, the
sun. and trepo, to turn). from the
legend that Clytie was turned into this
flower through gazingat 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. tezils, or fuller's
thistle, formerly cultivated largely by
manufacturers for raising napOn WOOL
en- broadcloth, was believed, when hung
up in an airy place in 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-
BILE 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 premOnition of a
plague, or some other pestiferOus dis
ease. in the ensuing year.
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
and the hidden treasures which lie deep
in the earth.
Such insignificant beings rs crickets
and flies are subjectsfor these traditions
and beliefs. Pliny, the great Roman
naturalist, wrote. nearly nineteen CEN
turtles ago, in favor of crickets and the
good they bring to the human hab-
itations in which they dwell. Two
hundred years ago, q learned English
author wrote u long chapter on THE
Cricket on the HEARTH" declaring that
II was the height of ill-fOrtune to kill
one-indesd. q breach Of hospitality.
When, after having resided in . house
, for many years, they forsaks ths Chin