Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-05-31
TAILORS.

WHo first said that-nine tailors make a |
manS And when did he say it9 And !
why did he say it? And why is this kind
of plurality more needed with tailors !
than with any other handicraftsmen9
Investigators of the origin of old sayings, !
odd proverbs, slang phrases, nicknames
and queer words have not left this particu
lar subject unnoticed; and, if they have
failed in furnishing decisive answers to
the above four questions, they have, at
any rate, accumulated abundant testi-
mony showing the widely-spread famili
arity with this joke
The modes of applying it, by wits,
retailers of wit, and inventors of Jokes,
are almost endless. A gentleman accept
ed challenge from tailor; they met on
the field of fight, when the gentleman said
to the challenger where are the other
eighty" In the days when the trained or
train bands were among the institutions of
London, a tailor, rated to supply half p
man to the band, asked how this could
be done; he was answered, "By sending
four journeymen and an apprentice"
Orator Henley, who was not particular
concerning the sources of his Jokes, pro-
vided he could make smart hit with
them, once said, that "as no man puts
new cloth upon an old garment" tailor
can not be man. Carlyle, in his "Sartor
INCShIbuS, SHY lIOtS IL uOt Sldnu On
record that Queen Elizabeth on receiving
deputation of eighteen tailors, addressed
them with a Good morning, gentlemen
both?" And did not the same virago
boast that she had "a cavalry regiment
whereof neither horse nor man could be
injured, her regiment, namely, of tailors
on mares?" This story of the cavalry
regiment was told in the following
form in the Chester O0ur1Rt great
many years ago; In the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, the tailors petitioned Her
Majesty that regiment might be raised,
composed entirely of their craft, to go
abroad into Flanders The Queen as
sented. She ordered that las there never
was known to be regiment of tailors
before) they should all be mounted on
mares In a short times the regiment
was completed, equipped and drilled,
reviewed by Elizabeth, and sent off to
fight the Queens wars in Flanders. They
rushed to the front in battle, fought va
liantly, and were every one killed. Her
Majesty was greatly affected when she
heard this news, but thanked God that
she had neither lost man nor horse" A
search for such an incident in Froude or
Miss Strickland would probably not be
rewarded with success.
Nor is this curious joke whatever be
its origin) confined to England. 1t is met
with in many foreign countries sometimes
varied with another number instead of
nine. The Count de la Villamarque, In
his collection of Breton Ballads" tells
us that to this day the peasants of Brit
tany have a familiar saying, "QuW .faut
neuf tdilleurs pour fare IN homnle, pre-
cisely our formula, which seems to be ac-
cepted in all the four divisions of the
United Kingdom. In Hanover, il seems,
II ran11irao furaItyA fafl tn abo a
and in some parts of Germany the number
is thirteen. In Silesia, through some un-
explained popularity, the twelve frac-
tions required to make q man are
said to be button makers (Knopfmacher)
instead of tailors.
Now, what are we to think of all this!
1t must have had some origin. No say
ing or proverb, story or joke, traceable
into several countries, expressed in vari-
Gus languages, and kept alive for some
centuries, could have sprung into exist
ence without cause; and we are left to
speculate whether the cause, whatever it
may have been, was purely accidental or
designedly concocted.
One explanation, presented in multi
piled form, is based upon the phrase,
MAKE a man of him." that is, rendering
some substantial service. In Rhenish
Prussia the story is told somewhat in the
following way: mine tailors were work
ing together in warm, comfortable room;
the season was mid-winter, and all with
out was sleet, snow and bitter cold. A
poor, hungry, ill-clad tramp knocked at
the ork-shop door, and solicited aims,
saying he had walked many mile, and
was faint from lack of warmth and food
The kindly tailors not only shared their
meal with him, but sent him away with a
few grochen in his pocket; and he ex-
claimed, gratefully, "You have made a
man of mel" If nine tailors "make a
man" in this sense, so much the more to
their credit
But then this gives the honor to Ger,
many, an arrangement which certain En-
glish versions of the story certainly do
not indorse. Here is one of the versions
I'm 1742, an orphan boy applied for aims
at a fashionable tailor's shop in London,
in which some journeymen were employ
ed. His interesting appearance opened
the hearts of the benevolent gentlemen OF
the cloth, who Immediately contributed
nine shillings for the relief of the little
stranger. With this capital, our grateful
hero purchased fruit which he retailed al
profit. Time passed on, and wealth and
honor smiled upon the young tradesman,
so that when he set up his carriage, in
stead of troubling the Heralds' College
for a crest, he painted the following mot
to on the PANEL "Nine tailors made me 8
man." AS far back as 1889, in a book
called Grammatical Drollery, zone of these
stories made its appearance in versited
form:
There Is a proyerb which has been OF old,
4 And many men have likewise been so bold,
10 the discrodit Of the taylor's trade
Nine taylors goe to make man, they said.
But for their credit I'll unriddle it = ye:
draper once fell into pOvertie;
Nine taylOrs joined their purses together then,
To set him up and make him a man agen."
But perhaps the most novel and unex
pected attempt at an explanation is one
contained in a monthly magazine two OF
three years ago. The author does mo-
seem to be poking fun at us; he is {
clergyman, and follows his chain of rea
soning steadily. He adduces the wei
known phrase, "To toll a bell," as
means of announcing decease; he states
that the original and proper form is, "TC
tell knell on bell;" and, in connection
with this "telling" or ''tolling," he con
trives to bring in the nine tailors. Ii
some places, he proceeds to inform us
after knell certain number of distinc
bellstrokes are made, to denote whethe
the deceased was man, woman or child
often the numbers were, nine, for man
six, for woman, and three, for child
These strokes on the church-bell were lis
tened to and counted by the paflshoner
or villagers who heard them; and thel
the knell at its conclusion was said TO b,
"told," or counted. BY degrees this ide
became confused or lost, aud the partici
pie TOLD" was referred to a suppose,
ininitiye to "toll" instead af its natura
inhnitive "to tell" or count" s.
much for this little bit of grammar an,