Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-03-01


tore from the East. Cinderella and her
slipper is older than all history, like
half dozen other baby legends. The
annals Of the world do not 20 back. far
enough TO tell us from wherce they first
came.
All the boys plays, like everything
that amusts the child in the open air. are
Asiatic. Rawlinson will show YOU that
they came somewhere from the banks of
the Ganges or the suburbs of Damascus.
Bulwer borrowed the incidents of his Ro
man stories, from legends of thousan d
years before. Indeed Dunlop, who has
grouped the history Of the novels of all
Europe into one essay, says tha. in the
nations OF modern Europe there have
been ESQ or 300 distinct stories. He
says at least 200 Of these may be traced. -.
before Christianity, to the other side of
the Black Sea. If this were my topic.
which it is not, migt tell yon that even
our newspaper jokes are enjoying very
respectable old age. Take Maria Edge
worth's on Irish bulls and the lauohabl e
mistakes of the Irish. Even the tale
which either Maria Edgewo,th or her
father thought the best is that famous
story ola man writing letter as fol.
lows:
"MY DEAR FRIEND: l would write
you more in detail, more minutely. if
there was not an impudent tellew look
ing over my shoulder reading every
word" C'No, you lie--Iv'e not read a
word you have wrtten.")
This is al, Irish hnll utill - :, .,.
old one. 1t is only $50 years older
than the New Testament. Horace Wal
pole diseated from Richard Lowell Edge
worth and thought the other Irish bull
was the best-of the man who said 81
would have been very handsome man,
but they changed ME in the cradle. -
That comes from Don Quixote, and is
Spanish, Cervantes borrowed it from the
Greeks in the fourth century, and the
Greeks stole it from the Egyptian hund-
reds of years back.
GREEK JOKES IN THEIR DoTAGE.
There is one story which it is said
Washington has related of man who
went into an inn and asked for glass of
drink from the landlord, who pushed for
ward wiue-glass about half the usual
slze-the teacups IN that day were not
more than half the present size. The
landlord said, "That glass out of which
you are drinking is 40 years DID,"
"Well," said the thirsty traveller, con-
templating its diminutive proportions,
81 think it is the smallest thing l ever
saw" That story as told is given as a
story of Athens 975 years before Christ
was born. Why all these Irish bulls are
Greek--every one of them.
Take an 1rishman who carried around
brick as specimen of the house he had
to sell take the Irishman who shut his
eyes and looked into the glass to see
how he would look after he was dead !;
take the Irishman that bought crow,
alleging that crows were reported to
live 200 years, and he meant to set out
and try it; take the Irishman that met a
friend who said to him, "Why, Sir, l
heard you were dead" "Well says the
man." 81 suppose you see Pm not" "Oh
no." says he, 81 would believe the man
who told me a. good deal quicker
than would you" Well those are all
Greek. A score or more of them, OF
parallel character, come from Athens.
Our old Boston patriots felt that tar
ring and feathering a Tory was genu.
inc patent Yankee rebrand-Y Yankeeism.
They little imagined that when Richard
C9ur de Lion set out on one of his Cru
sades, among the orders he issued to his
camp of soldiers was that any one who
robbed hen.roost should be tarred and
gathered.
Many man who lived in Conncticut
has repeated thsstory of taking children
TO the limits OF the town and giving then
a sound thrashing to enforce their mem
ory OF the spot. But the Burgudians il
France, in law now l,100 years old
attributed valor TO the cas-; ofFrance be
cause it had law that the children
should be taken to the limits of the dis
trict, and there soundly whipped in or
der that they may forever remembe
where the limits came.
So we have very few things in tha
line. But said / would take the subjec
for instance, of this very materlal-ver,
substance-glass. 1t is the very bes
expression of mans self-conceit.
|
/ had heard that nothing had been oh
served IN ancient times which could no
be called by the name OF glass tina
there had been merely attempts to imi
tate it. l thought that they had prove,
the proposition they certainly had elab
oratedit.
In Tompei, a dozen miles south of Ma
Piles, which was covered with ashes By
V,suvius 1900 years ago they broke into
room full of glass; there is ground-glass
window-glass, cut-glass aud colored glass
OF every variety. 1t was undoubtedly ;
glass.maker's facrory. So the lie and tn,
refutation came face 10 face. 1t was lik'
a pamphlet printed in London in 1885
4 by DIR. Lardner, which proved that
steamboat could not cross the ocean, ant
the book came to this county in the frs
steamboat that came across the Atlantic
The chemistry OF the most ancient pc
Rod had reached poiht TO which W.
hayenever even approached, and which
we in vain struggle 20 reach to-day. In
deed the whole management of the effecl
OF light on glass, is still a matter o t pro
found study. The first two stories
which have to offer you, are simply
stories from history. -,.,
The first is from the letters of th'
Catholic priests who broke into China
which were published in France just tw,
| haal.al ...n.s o,o Thav xuara ahou,