The Number Three

Tliurü is atuperstitions regard tor the numbcr threu in tliu popular mimi, and the third repetitiou of anything is genera] ly looked upon as a crisis. Thus au article may twice be lost and rucovered, but tlio tblrd timo that it is lost it is gono tor goud. Twice a man may pass through somt' great daugcr in safety, but the third timo he loses bis life. If; however, the mystio third eau be sut)cessi'ully paeaed, all ia well. Three waa oalled by Pythagoras the perfect nuniber, and W8 frequently Sed its use symbolieal of Deily. Thus we might meiition tho tridont of Neptune, tho three forkod lightningof Joveaud three headed dog of PI uto. The idea of trinity is not eoiifinerl to Christianity, but occurs in soveral religions. In mythology also we tind three fatee, three finios and three graees, and, coming uearer to our own times, Shakespeare introduces nis turee witches. lu public bonse eigns three soems to play an important part, for we frequently meet with "Threo Cups, " "Three Jolly Sailors, " "Three Bolls," "Three Tuns," "Three Feathers" - in fact, the nuniber of almost anyrhing of ■whioh a fertile imaginatioii eau conoaiye a trio. In uursery rbymes and tales this umiibcr is not uuküown, and if we look back to the days of our childhood most of us will cali to ruind the three wise men of Gotham who took a sea voyage in a bowl, not to ïnention tho three blind mice that had the.il tai Is cut off by the farmer's wife. Perhaps there is some occult power in the numbei whioh governs the división of uovels into three volumes and induces doctors to order their medicine to be taken thrice daily It is said that some tribes of savage caunot count beyond three. But, although they may havo no words to express higher numbers, perhaps we should be scarcely justified in assuming that they are incapable of appreciating the