Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-12-29
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
SeasOnable Chat with the Little r,

New Year is following hard after. Both
OF these are holidays, and are meant to
be spent with JOY, yet there is a sober
side to each; for the Merry Christina
is sacred day, and on the first of Jan
uary whole year lies before one out
OF which to make what one p.eases.
" hat we all wish to obtain from It is
happiness. There is story of Michel
Angelo, of which, perhaps you have
heard. One day, it is said, while walk
ing through an obscure street of Flor
ence, he saw block of fine marble ~
ing alt hidden in some rubbish. At
once he went down on his knees and be-
gan to clean it off. When asked what
he was doing, he replied: "There is an
angel in this stone, and I must get it
out. : Then he had the block carried
to his nome, where, with patient toll,
he carved from it the beautiful form of
an angel. Sometimes I think Of this
when the first day of the year has come
and the year lies in solid block before
us the Happy New Year we all desire
each one must carve out for himself.
Now let us take up an entirely diff
ferent topic. You have all an old
friend called Peter Piper, who picked
peck of picked peppers; some of you
may be acquainted with Theopbilus
Thistle, the unsuccessful thistle sitter,
while others still may know the Don
Quixcte Quixote, who quizzed queer
ish quid- box. The anecdotes you have
learned Of these three vary from one
another only as tweedledum varies from
tweedledee. But fourth anecdote I
have to relate, differs from all these by
the addition of little common sense to
the nonsense, In the year 1858, a
learned Frenchman met more learned
Englishman, if he had but known it,
and began, rather fOolisEly, to boast of
the superiority of his Language to the
English, particularly in the number of
derivatives and synonyms it contained.
The Eoglishman demanded proof,
and the Frenchman replied in the fol-
lowing lines, which the French scholars
among the Nutcrackers may try to
translate.
''Quand un cordier, cordant, veult corder une
corde,
Pour corde corder, trois cordons il ac-
corde;
Mats, 81 un des coraons de la corde decorde.
AS some nay find this hard nut to
crack, do you take look at the transla-
ton which the Englishman, on the spur
of the moment made:
''When twister a twisting twill twist him
twist,
For the twisting of his twist he three twines
doth untwist;
But if one of the twines of the twist do un-
twist,
The Irvine that untwisteth untwisteth the
twist"
Not content with doing as well as the
Frenchman, DIR. John Wallis, IS he was
called, went on and gave the words an
other twist:
''Untwisting the twine that UNFINISHED be-
He twirls with his twister the two in
Irvine;
Thence twice having twisted the twines of the
twine,
He twisteth the Irvine he had twined in
twain"
Then as the Frenchman 81 till kept 81
lence, he caused the twister to twist his
Irvine again:
The twain that in twining before in the Irvine,
As twines were UNFINISHED, he now doth un-
tWine;
Twixt the twain intertwisting Irvine more
between
He, twirling his twister, makes twist OF the
twine.
The man who made these ingenious
lines was professor of geometry at Ok
ford during the time of Cromwell. Bet
tor impromptu verses of the kind were
never made, and on coming across this
account of them the other day, I laid
it aside for you. The Frenchman. the
story goes on to say, was obliged to
change his opinion of language which
an expert could 80 easily twist.
Another story of the time of Crom-
well, and good to be told at the begin
ming of the year, is this:
WHEN HIS TURN CAME.
One Of the chaplains to Cromwell
was applied to by men Of all arties for
protection, nor did he refuse his inf1u-
ence to any Oh account of difference in
religious opinions. One day the Pro-
tector said to him, ssMr. Howe, you have
asked favors for everybody besides
yourself; pray, when does yonr turn
comes" He replied, "My turn is always
come when l can serve another.
Here is a story for the little folks
who havs been rather neglected of late:
LITTLE WALLACE's FABLE.
Little Wallace was put to bed up
stairs. His mother told him she would
ONE and sit by him after little while.
Very soon he called for her. His father
heard him, and he went up. He did
not know that Wallace's mother had
promised she would come, SO he just
told Wallace to keep still and not call |
again. He was turning away to go |
down, when Wallace said:
"Did you see the old cat to day,
papa?"
"No, Wallie. Why, what did she
do?"
Why, papa, the little kitten cried,
and the old cat came.
This was little Wallace's fable. His |
father knew what it meant, and he said:
"Well, Wallie, lie still. / will go |
down and tell the old cat her kitten
wants her."