The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1881-06-01
The Origin Of Popular Phrases
-Denocrat.)

"Dead as a herring" This phrase
may be traced to the fact that the her
ring is an extremely delicate fish,
Whenever it is taken out of the water,
even though it seems to have no hurt,
it gives a squeak and Immediately ex-
pires, and though it be thrown in
stantIy back into the water it never
RECEIVERS.
"Gone where the woodbine twin
eth" 1t is very common in the New
England States to see the trough, or
spout, which leads the water from the
caves, entwined in the claspers of the
woodbine. Jas. Fisk, Jr., gave the
above phrase in answer to a question
concerning a certain sum of money.
He wished to convey the idea that it
had gone up the spout.
"Let slip the dogs of war" In
Shakespeare's play, julius Caesar, act
3, scene l, twenty five lines from the
eud, occurs the above expression. An
thoDy is soliloquizing as to the outcome
of the murder of Caesar: Sand Cae-
sar's spirit shall in these con-
fines cry havoc and let slip
the dogs of war;"
"By the skin ofmy teeth" is found in
Job xix, 20: "My bone cleaveth to my
skin aud to my flesh; and I am escaped
with the skin of my teeth"
"The style is the man." This ia
nous saw is generally quoted as one of
Buttons; but it appears that the words
thus attributed to Button are not Buff
fon's at all, but perversion of one of
his phrases, which occurs in his "Dis-
sertation sur lie STYLE" His words are
''Le style est de l'homme," and not
"Le style, c'est phomme."
"Don't crowd the mourners." This
expression originated with one of the
Mier prisoners in Mexico. The cap
tured Texans overpowered their guard
at Rancho Salado and escaped, but
were afterwards captured and COM
PEELED to draw lots. A number of
beans were placed in hat, every tenth
bean being black one. The man who
drsw black bean was to be executed
next morning. One of the unfortu-
mates, who had already drawn a black
bean, was jostled accidentally by a
fellow captive who was crowding up
to try his luck. The jostled party,
whose fate was already sealed, laugh
ingly remarked: $50 Slow don't crowd
the mourners, boys"
"The pen mightier than the sword"
Bulwer's famous saying, which he puts
into the mauth of Richlieu, that "the
pen is mightier than tire sword" is not
original, ut least not id the idea. A
number of letters written by Oliver
Cromwell lave recently been found
among the family papers of the des-
cendant OF one of his captains, with
the device of sword crossing pen
upon them, and the legend, "Teu to one
the feather beats the iron."
"Whom the gods love die young"
Quoted by Byron in his Don Juan,
canto sixth, 4l2; but the ancient au-
thor is Accius Plautius Marcus, the
greatest of Roman comic poets. He
was born in Umbria about 254 B. G..
His history is profoundly obscure, and
according to Cicero, he died 1874 B. C.
Twenty of his comedies are still ex-
tant, out of the twenty-one enumera-
ted by Vacco, and are scarcely less
popular among the moderns than they
were during his lifetime.
"Though lost to sight to mem'ry
DEAR" This line has frequently been
quoted, and in almost every instance
it is added that its authorship is I'M
known. A correspondent in an issue
Ofthe St. Louis Globe of 1873 asserts
that an author named Ruckven Jen.
kyns wrote the following in 1901, and
published it in the Greenwich Mag
azine:--
Sweetheart, goodbye! tue huttering sail
IS spread to watt me tar from thee;
And soon before the fav'ring gale
My ship shall bound upon the sea.
Percbance all desolate and forlorn
These eyes shall miss thee many year,
But unforgotten every charm,
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
Sweetheart, good-bye! one last embrace,
y, cruel fate, true souls to sever;
Yet in this hearts most sacred place.
Thou, thou alone shall dwell forever
And still shall recollection trace
In fancy's mirror ever near,
Each smile, each tear that from that face,
Though lost to sight, to mem'ry dear.
The kissing games in the country
sometimes bring about strange results
Mrs. Thomas Armour, of Schuylkill,
Pa, is insane from being q mere look.
er-on at one of those games. Four
years ago she attended o picnic in
company with her husband, who took
part in kissing game. Mrs. Armour
watched the players for sometime with
pleasant interest, until she saw her
husband kiss another woman. From
that moment she showed signs of in