The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-10-07
MISAPPLIED PROVERBS.

true ofproverbs as OF other forms of speech.
Yet, OF these last, there are many perver-
sions, some noticeable only for their
drollery, others rsgrettable on account of
their mischievous tendency.
An Irishman once backed his applica-
ton for help second time by the logical
plea that one good turn deserves another;
and countrywoman who recently came
to town to purchase fitch of bacon said
to a clergyman with such an air of sancti-
moniouS drollery as to leave her auditors
in doubt whether she were more in Jest
than earnest, The Bible says, Man shall
not live by bread alone,' so 1 thought l
would come in and buy a little neat
Were all Interpretations of proverbs as
harmless as these, we might pass them by
with smile. But some are of very
grave character, become the parents Of
very grave-looking offspring, and some
times demand an equally grave considera-
ton. 10 most people proverbs are like
coin from the mint; they bear the stamp
of authority, and pass from hand TO hand
with scarcely a question raised as to their
genuineness or their value. They arc
revercntly received into ordinary parlance
us the condensed wisdom of ages and the
verdicts of hoary- headed experiences; and,
when once received, they govern with an
authority like that of Holy Writ.
Who has not heard and, perhaps, been
misled by the ott-repeated proverb, Feed
a cold and starve fever" interpreted to
mean that fevcrs and colds are to receive
opposite modes of treatment-"s tutfing'
and starving" Whereas its author, who
endeavored to crowd words of wisdom
into too narrow a space, no doubt knew
and supposed that everybody else would
know that a cold is only a fever under a
disguised form, and thereiore-as in the
proyeTb Marry in haste and repent at
leisurc'-he intended to be understood as
saying Ii you feed a cold you will have
a fever to starve''
Could the several authors of this charm
ing proverb arise from the dead and learn
the Interpretation which has been given it,
their holy horror would probably express
itself in a dramatic scene worth witness
ing. solomon, never, probably, a man Of
high spirituality, Notwithstanding his
world-famed wisdom (that is, his common
sense), began its history by writing, in
Proverbs X, 70: Hatred stirreth up
strites; but lore corereM all SINS" The
Septaugint translators gave free and un-
authorized form to the last clause, which
made it say: But friendship shall cover
all that are not contentious" The Apos-
tie Peter, in quoting solomon, rejects the
Septaugint and draws upon the original
Hebrew, which he interprets: Charity"
THAT is love) "shall cover the multitude
of sins; and the Apostle James,
quoting substantially in the same
way, gives us the words, shall
hide multitude of SINS" In all these
cases the writer's evidently intended to
say, in their flowing, Oriental style, what
the Greeks and Romans embodied in the
pithy maxim, "Love is blind.' As to
the nature OF, its misapplication,. no one
need be informed. The effort to wrest the
teaching of Solomon, James and Peter to
the poor will atone for sin is so "thin"
as to remind one of the turn given to the
saying, "Cleanliness is next to goodness, ;"
by man noted for dissolute habits and
personal purity, who used to quote it as
saying, "Cleanliness is godliness.'
The tongue is an un,.uly member, antaned
and untdn,able.-Few proverbs of caustic
character are more universally attested
than this, and, strange to say, attested most
readily by those who are most obnoxious
to its indictments. No doubt this is the
effect in some cases OF ingenious selfre-
proach; in Others, probably, it is the effort
to devise an excuse for language that is
otherwise inexcusable Viewed as piece
of animal mechanism the tongue is marked
with wonderful flexibility and adapted
ness to vocal purposes. AS to its training,
it is of all the members of the human
body, not excepting either hand or eye,
the most perfectly ruled. In producing
those articulate sounds by which thought
is conveyed and those modulations of
voice which express the tone and spirit of
that thought, it perfectly obeys every
monitor of the will. The tongue is, in
fact, an excellent member-the best, per
haps, in this body-if only the heart be SO.
1t is an "unruly member only by being
too faithful a servant of the power that
Yields it. =
The s'er!d o,ess me a liniag.-By whom
is this claim put in? If by one who has
of the world at large, to the neglect of
Lord, and as has done many a John
Howard and Florence Nightingale since
their day, and even an occasional Socrates
among the heather, the claim will be good,
morally, if not legally. But such are the
last persons whom we expect to urge it.
They usually prefer to 60 on silently in
their work of noble disinterestedness, and
to say-if they say anything" The Lord
will provide" A claim of incomparably
more manliness and truth was once ex-
pressed by a horribly-maimed soldier,
who said, with bright and hopeful air:
81 know that the world has some useful
place for me to fill, and work for me to
do; my business is to hunt it up" q:
Knouledge is poaoer.-Ihis proverh is
in two respects like Franklin's "Hon-
csty is the best policy''-first, in probably
being sound by original intention, and
secondly In probably being the parent of
more evil than good. Franklin's, after the
reign of a century, has been condemned
by high ethical authority, and is rapidly
passing out of use, because it seems to
base honesty on policy, instead of regarding
it as morally obligatory, and thus lower
ing the standard of public morals The
proverb at the head Of this paragraph has
also been condemned, and is also passing
out'of use, because its tendency has been
to lower the standard: of popular educa-
those peoples and generations which have
excelled IN knowledge have also excelled
in power; but any educator of youth who
should act upon the principle that educa-
ton consists in examining the mind with
knowledge will have perpetrated rs great
an error as would d body Of civil 'enEi-
neers who should saturate the atmosphere
with ,vapor from boiling caldrons be-
cause it is known that steam issa motQr:
The truth is, that steam and knowledge
are powers Tor rather Me:-ns Of Dosoer) only
when properly used. Many man who
has been known as walking encyclope-
dia has been equally noted for inability to