The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1875-05-07
Miscellaneous.
PROVERBS FOR EVERYBODY.
A FEW OF THE BEST OUT OF SEVENTY
THOUSAND.

The fact that more than seventy thousand
proverbs have been perpetuated, and in many
cases originated by the people of Europe and
America, proves, without counting those at
tributed to other nations, that these express
sions of practical truths have lost none of
the prestige of those days when Plato Plu-
tarch, Aristotle and other philosophers re-
garded their study as honorable, and classcd
them among undeniabe testimonies of es-
tablished principles. Even Solomon, the
most learned of the learned, avoided all pos
sibility of any doubt as to his opinion on the
subject, by compiling a book which pro-
claimed to all the world that "a proverb is
an Interpretation of the wise
Many of these familiar sayings we use in
our everyday conversation, without having
the slightest knowledge of their origin, their
early application, the countless ages through
which they have come to us, or the different
nations to whom they have conveyed the
same ideas.
We have notable example of age and
universally in the worldwide proyerb which
takes for its text the benefit arising from
the observing of early hours. This date'
farther back than the patience of man has
allowed him to pursue it, and our language
is usually poured into the ears of youthful
sluggards by thrifty parents in the couplet:
EARLY to bed and early to rise,
VIII make you healthy, wealthy and wlse;'
this proving more seductive with its litera
promises, which come within the cOmprehen
sion of child's mind, than the iigurative one
of the Scotch The early bird catches tn
worm"
Gle that was born to be hanged will new
er be drowned" is repeated by every know
tongue, the Scotch conveying the idea i
"The water will ne er defraud the woodie q
its due; :" and the Danes ntensifying it wit
Gle that is to be hanged will never b
drowned, unless the water goes over the ga
lows The Dutch say, "What belongs
ians, "a villain may dance without dange
on the river"
The old Hebrew maxim, cone bird in tn
net is better than hundred flying h'
been clothed in English in the lines:
lone bird in the hand Is better far,
Than two that in the bushes are
which is often used in the contracted form o
"a bird in the hand is worth two in I'll
BUSH"
The Scotch make even greater difierenC
, in the value of the object possessed al
those in anticipation than the sayings a
ready quoted, with the proyerb, "Ae bird
the hand is worth ten flying"
The idea running through these has su
gested numerous other sayings, differing on
in the figures used, as the advice, "Ney
count your chickens until they are Matched
or, a little less vulgarly put, "Better have
egg to-day than hen tomorrow" "Chan
: ing the figure again, but retaining the fiji
: idea we have, "a living dog is better thi
a dead lion"
In close connection with these maxim
which are full of abjurations for improvi
present benefits, is the Danes expression
the shortness of life, in their proverb, SCI
day, gold-tO- morrow, dirt"
The Finlander5 respect the sentiment
this last in, To-day well-to-morrow &C
in the mouth" From the same source CON
:, the most sensible suggestion, "Better be
the neck than bruise the forehead"
rt The Spanish proverb, "Four eyes are b
ter than two," becomes in England a
America, "Two heads are better than one
' while the same thought pervades sayi
common in Venice, that "Pope and peasa
,r know more than Pope alone"
The Latin proverb by Erasmus
'That same man that runneth awale
May again fight another dale :"
though containing dubious consolation
- those who have not proven themselves ov'
brave in the strife, is reproduced by But
in "Hudibras," and reads somewhat rs
lows:
"FOr those that lly may fight again,
n Which he can never do that's slain"
To Oliver Goldsmith is given the ere,
of the most common version now in Use
- this truth, though do not recall the conn
ton in which he introduced it. While
miliar to all, it is here quoted for the ST
of comparison:
"IIe who lights and runs away
May live 10 llght another day.
Plutarch relates, in his life of Emil
Paulus, the origin of "Whom the shoe pin
no es !" and Thereby hangs tale" which
re forms us that this worthy man, without q