Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-10-05
MISAPPLIED PROVERBS.

All utteranees are to be interpreted by
their evident intention. And this is as
true of proverbs as of other forms of speech.
Vet. of these last, there are many perver-
sions. some noticeable only for their
drollery, others regrettable on account OF
their mischievous tendency.
An Irishman once backed his appiica-
tion for help second time by the logical
nlea that one g00d turn describes another,
and a countrywoman who recently came
n town to purchase fitch of bacon said
IN 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, 1.-The Bible says, Man shall
moi live by bread alone so | thought l
would come in and buy little meat"
Were all misapplications of proverbs as
harmless as these, we might pass them by
with a 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. To most people proverbs are like
coin from the mint; they bear the stamp
of authority, and pass from hand to hand
with scarcely question raised as TO their
eenuineness or their value. They are
reverently received into ordinary parlance
as 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 oft-repeated proverb, Feed
a cold and starve fever" interpreted to
mean that fevers and colds are TO receive
opposite modes of treatment" stuffing"
and starving" Whereas its author, who
4 <,.Iu of, G1xayYN
into too narrow a space, no doubt knew
and supposed that everybody else would
know that cold is only fever under a
disguised form, and therefore-as in the
proyerb Marry in haste and repent at
ieisuren-he intended to be understood as
SAYING, If you feed cold you will have
fever to starve."
Charttv coUers O multitude of sins
Gould the several authors of this charm
ing proyerb arise from the dead and learn
the Interpretation which has been given il,
their holy horror would probably express
itself in dramatic scene worth witness
ing Solomon, never, probably, man of
high spirituality, Notwithstanding his
world famed wisdom chat is, his common
sense), began its history by writing, in
Proverbs x, 10: Hatred stirreth up
strifes; but L0ye c0Uereh 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, I" shall
hide multitude of sins" In all these
cases the writers 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
support the doctrine that almsgiving 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 1t as
saying, Cleanliness is godliness."
The tongue IS an unruiy member, untdnsed
and u,stanaable.-Few proverbs of caustic
character are more universally attested
than this, and, strange TO say attested most
to its indictments No doubt this is the
effect in some cases OF ingenious self.re-
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 fiexibility and adapted
ness to vocal purposes. AS to its training,
1t 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
monltion 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
wields it,
The n0r!d ores me Liping.--By whom
is this claim put in? II by one who has
long and unselfishly labored for the coed
OF the world at large, 10 the neglect OF
private interests, as did the apostles of our
Lord, and as has done many John
Howard and Florence Nightingale since
their day, and even an occasional Socrates
among the heather, the claim will be good,
morally, ii not legally. But such are the
last persons whom we expect to urge IT.
They usually prefer TO go on silently in
their work Of noble disinterestedness, and
70 say-if they say anything" The Lord
viii PROVIDE A claim of incomparably
more manliness and truth was once ex-