The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1950-02-16
Gaping the
CAPITAL
With BEN HAYES

terested in the number seven
this week. / checked around on
this magic number to discover
it has been favored for centuries.
1t has been mystic and sacred
through the ages. Seven come
II! Seven years of plenty, seven
years of famine. The seventh
son of seventh son is en-
chanted. There is a saying: Once
in seven years the worst farmers
have the best crops. Were in
Seventh Heaven" Moham-
medans once believed there were
seven heavens, one above the
other, with only God and the
angels in the seventh heaven.
Why seven? You tell me.
There are seven days in Gre
alton, seven Graces, seven divi-
sionS of the Lords Prayer, Sew
en- Churches of Asia in the Apoc-
alypse. The japanese have seven
gods of luck-Bishamon, Dali
koku. Benten, Ebisu, Fukuroku-
jim, Jurojin and Hstei. The seven
sages were Solon, Chilo, Thales,
Bias, Cleobulus, Pittacus and
Periander.
Break mirror and you'll
have seven years bad luck. Some
people sing Seven Long Years
With the Wrong Woman" as they
scratch seven-years' itch. Sa-
lone danced with seven wells.
Rome was built on seven hills.
Shakespeare wrote of the seven
ages of man. Pass the Seven Up.
What happened to the guy who
invented Six-Up? There were
Seven Keys to Baldpate". Our
language contains a seven-day
wonder and seven-league boots.
Fill in the blank: Snow White
and the Dwarfs.
Suppose Casey Jones had died
at the throttle of Old 96. Would
the song be around today? Lucks
run rampant when poker is
switched to Seven-Card Pete.
Military history includes the
Seven-Years War, the Seven
Weeks War, the Seven Days
Battle and the Battle of Seven
Pines. There were Seven against
Thebes, and Greece had Seven
Wise Men. Christendom had
Seven Champions. There were
Seven Mothers. Seven Lamps of
Architecture and Seven Day
Baptists.
What woman hasn't tried the
Seven-Day Diet? Also-the sew
enth chord nerve; the seven vir-
tues, sins and lively arts. when
we were seven"
Ancient mariners sailed the
seven seas - Arctic. Antarctic,
North apd South Pacific, North
and South Atlantic and the In
dian Ocean. The Seven Whistlers
were birds that warned-by
their whistling-that danger ex-
isted in mines at Leicestershire,
England. The seven sciences
were Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric,
Arithmetic, Music, Geometry
and Astrology. Religious legend
also has given us the Seven
Sleepers - Constantine, Diony-
sius, John, Maximiam, Malchus,
Martinian n and Serapin. The
Babylonians and Egyptians had
seven sacred planets; there also
were seven stars of destiny.
Name the Seven Wonders of
the world-the Pyramids, the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon,
the Tomb of Mausolus, the Tenn
pie of Diana, the Colossus of
Rhodes, the statue of Jupiter
and the Pharos lighthouse of
Alexandria.
There is an expression of ex-
aggeration-'I was scared out
of my seven sense" Those would
be animation, feeling, speech,
taste, sight, hearing and smell
ing.
Don't overlook the seven red
stripes in the flag. How many
wives had the man going to st.
Ives? And there is the seven-
year vine.
Now let's disprove everything.
The six-Shooter outlived the
shooter (There really was
one). And did Booth Harrington
write a book named Seven?
No, that Hoosier was stubborn
enough to make it Seventeen.