The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-14

DRAGGING THE HALTER.

ny JOHN HALL, ID. ID.
Proverbs have been defined as the wit of one,
and the wisdom of many; the wit in stating in
pitbv and condensed form what is approved of
sy the judgment or confirmed by the observa-
tion of the multitude. They are in common
affairs what pungent Bible texts are to devout
people in things religious Indeed some of
them are so widespread and withal so weightv,
.hat they pass for sacred quotations. God
tempers the wind 10 the shorn lamb, has again
and again been clothed with the authority of in
spiration They are like Bible texts, too, in
their use, for how often sentence which In
the sacred discourse woulo with terse
Scripture quotation, at once giving 1t point and
authority is concluded in the forcible secular
talk with popular proverb, into which it
tapers off gracefully as the whip does into the
bit of wiry knotted whip-cord, which makes the
stroke at once graceful and ineisive.
There is an English proverb which answers to
this description, and deserves some study
''The horse is not clean escaped that drags his
halter" How vivid the picture is to any bucolic
mind; and the most healthy minds, like the
most healthy bodies, gather their strength in
the country. The vehement young animal has
been tied up by the head, and the instinct of
freedom is too strong for the situation. Chatting
and tugging, he at last breaks the bond; but it
by he is to be caught. You may see the captor
with tempting morsel for horse coaxingly
held out for his shy inspection. He gallops
around little; halts; trots a bit; halts again
His ears are restless, his eye now flashing now
inuuiring and curious. he is suspicious; yet the
Establishments of voice and gesture and the
goodly meal are not without their force and
Oblvioss of the treacherous halter he allows the
approach of the captor. 1t is pretty subject
for Rosa Bonheur--if her hands are not full
already. At length the halters end is reached
by the willy human actor in the scene; it would
not do to provoke a sudden leap by stopping
for it; but it is all the same to set foot
upon it, and hold it fast. Ah poor young colt
you are not clean escaped; you dragged the
halter
There is good deal of halter-dragging among
men. Held, for example, by bad habit, high
spirited and yet feeble nature is captive. He
win snap the cords that bind him and go free.
He will assert himself to be man. He has
power enough and will enough. He really
means it. He will get about it forthwith. Only
he will not make an abrupt transition. He will
90 into no extremes. He sees no harm in an
innocent game at the table, only he will not
gamble again, at least not to the extent he has
done. He cannot see the harm in social glass
only he will not drink to excess. He does not
intend to be fanatic about it; he is reason
able, moderate man. But by the time he has
had the social glass or two his idea of excess is
modified. AS he advances, SO does his horizon
of moderation, and excess still seems so far
away that he seems to himself safe in going
further, until he is in the mire again. He is
dragging the halter. Better break short off, if
the thing is to be quilted. Never drink again,
young man, if the fire has been burning in your
veins. Never touch the dice, never strike ball
again, if the fascination that held you is to be
shaken off.