Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-03-22

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It Is Lord Bacon who says fne ge-
MUS, spirit, and the wit Of a nation are
discovered in its proverbs;" and Earl
Russell defined proverb admirably
when he called 1t he "Wisdom Of many,
and the wit of one''-that IL, the wis
dom of many having observed fact,
one wittier than the rest puts it into
some happy phrase. So also Pope:
True Wit is nature to advantage dressed--
What oft was thought but ne'er 80 well ex-
pressed.
As for the wit of nation Being dis
covered in its proverbs, this is true with
the reserve that almost every proverb
worth repeating may be found in many
languages, indicating common origin
perhaps, certainly showing that all men
are of one kin. A proverb, in fact,
should be that touch of nature which
will make all feel alike and all accept
it.
The following are few proverbs,
some CT which combine much shrewd
observation with eaustic wit, and which
are all deserving of being treasured in
our memories and taken as a guidance
in life.
AilC htSSil 10 ~ chOtt anu 81 nCdi W
us all that We do not wonder at the sum
of wisdom being to the Babylonian,
"Eat, drink, and love-" or, as some say +,
''live." 1t is the old materialist idea,
"Enjoy the present hour"
The Syrian hits this of admirably
when he says. ''The egg of to-day, and
not the hen of tomorrow"
We say, "a bird In the hand is worth
two in the bush," calling in ALTERATION
to aid US to remember that promised
happiness Is uncertain.
= "To-mOrrow never comes, we are
told;" but there are others who have
turned the good of waiting into words
vi wisdom as true as they are poetical.
Apropos of eggs, Jerrold has said with
sweetest poetry, "Patienc. wanted n
nightingale; Patience waited, and the
egg sang"
A parallel piece of poetry is French
proverb, "With time and patience a
mulberry leaf becomes satin."
Another writer tells us that "Pa-
tience and Faith alone can conquer
Time" and the French have beauti-
ful line, which the poet LOngfellw has
thus Englished, "AIl things come round
to him a no will but wait" Finally he
would rather have the egg than tn.
hen may consider himself ''sat upon'e
;y the mighty Shakespeare and his
weighty pity, ''How poor are they that
have not patience!" "Wait-that is tie
lesson of life" says one; but, answers
another, "A setting hen never gets fat"
"Ay, ay," rejoins the first, "but 'rol-
ling stone gathers no moss.'" Both
thrust and parry, luDge and riposte are
good: a setting hen does not want to
get fat, but she matches her chickens;
and the rolling stone, we may suppose,
sees the world.
There are some excellent Syriac pro-
verbs. The Moslem Syrian laughs at
the slew beggar who neither enjoys
this world nor the next" and, while
we say "Hard words break no bones,"
he puts his view (the same) in more ap-
propriate words-"A thousand curses
never tore shirt" "Speech is of sill
yer, silence Is gold," made popular here
by Carlyle, is German. but the original
is Syriac, and is manifestly Eastern. 81
had many friends when my vines gave
wine," embOdies the common expert
ence that prosperity begets friends and
adversely tries them; so we see that
what is true in the West is true also In
East.