The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-02-27
PROVERBS
One of the missionaries was working

Une OF tie missionaries was working
up into practical use large collection
Of natiooal' proverbs, gathered during
many years Of extende ed tarvel, and 1
subjoin few, which especially struck
me- either by their quaint force or
their resemblance to our own wise
saws For instance, the we'll known
warning, not to look gift horse in the
mouth, has as its equivalent in Badaga,
one. OF the Indian tongues, "Lf any one
offers you buffalo, do not ask if she
gi'es milk = snd the MsIsyali render
isg of - burnt child breads the fire."
is identical with the corresponding
French proverb, "a scsldsd cat fears
cold water," while the Hindo version
u vsry picturesque and characteristic -
''He whose tutber was killed by bear
Is afraid Of black stump.' Again,
We say, "li you send an ass on its trav.
lis, 1t will not come back q horse,"
which III Tamil runs, "You may deco
rate an sss, but that will not make it
a horse )" and another dialect expresses
searly the same idea by the seDtentious
'dage, "a donkey may grow, but he
Will never be ao elephant The Eu-
ropean proverbs that ''No man is be-
70 to bis valet de cbanbre," and that
''Familiarity breeds contempt" are
tersely and pictnresquely combined in
the Tamil adage, "The temple cat does
not fear the idol The Malayalis re-
prove boaster who glories over the
unfortunate with the pithy remark,
"Aoy one can leap fall n tree y and
their proverb, ''R lnning up and down
The boat does not bring one sooner to
land" is keen rebuke to those who
cha1e and fret under circumstances of
forced iDaction while the sacred warn.
lng, cot tc cast pearls before swine is
ap'ly paratbrased by the question,
"Wh is the u,e f reading the Wales
to wild buffal, z" A few more Tam.
il sayings seen we'll worthy of notice.
The tears Of the oppressed are sharp
swords" reads like sentence from the
proverbs Of Solomon and "The flower
out of reach is dedicated to G,d," is
surely most graceful statement of the
utility of day DIRE IDS of service AID
sacrifice in the painless future. s'The
ant, measured by its own hand is eight
spans long," expresses, with superior
elegance and force, the gist of more
than one English proverb aud "a
black Cow may give white milk, is an
adage admirable for terseness and point
even if doubtful in morality. There
Ia much shrewdness 10 the Servian pro-
verbs, "Speak the truth, but come away
quickly AFTER" and "When an old dog
bsrks, then see what the matter is;'
and volumes of truth and beauty are
suumed up 10 the simple say'pg, "The
sun goes over unclean places out is not
de6led,'' OF bow many bright aud
holy lives spent in labor among vice
asd misery might this proye'b be ta-
Ken as the 6:,est motto! Russian pro.
verbs present q remarkable cumblaa-
tioa Of found common sense, deep re-
llgious feeling aud piety, almost coarse
expression. A few taken almost Ut
random will illustrate all three. "Meas-
are your cloth ten times for you can
cut it only once" "a fool Can cast a
stone Into the sea, but 9. hundred wise
men cauuos get it out. If you knew
where you would fail, y'u could put
down straw" Pray tv God, but row
towards Shore "Wlth God 60 over
the sea witht ut God cross not the
Threshold" "a mothers prayer saves
trom the depths OF the sea-" "Fear
not the rlca mus trowns, fear the beg
sar's tears" Glove NE when | am
black, when am white every one will
love me-" ave cannot go to the
church for the mud, but We may get to
the taveru." "Fless do uot bite each
other.'' ''No need to plant fools, they
grow Of themselves" "Ask pig to
dinner, and she will put her feet on