The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-02-11
Proverbs,
"Christmas comes bat once a yeor.r

christmas comes but once year" .
This is glorious, hearty old proverb
iull OF generosity and permission tot
TO the full lengths enjoyment. If tn,
children scream more lonaly than ueua
with delight-if the boys and girl
dance and frolic wildly; or paterfamilia.
purchases present which is little toC
extravagant-neyer mind 1t, for once
christmas comes but once n yearI'
Forget and forgive, 70 ID folks. and W,
will forget and forgive in turn. XII e
/ christmas is talked of so long that il
comes at last"
This is an old Norman French pro
verb: "On tant erie Noel que enffr
IL esl yenu." 1t is another cheerful pro,
verb, full OF the spirit of the season
meaning that. whatever trouble or dark.
ness may intervene, light and 10y will
come at last. 1t is the same as "It's O
long lane that has no turning" OF "a
fast day is the eve of feast day." Per.
haps 1t may have the suspicion OF an old
superstition, thas II we only hummer
and weary. away at anything long
enough. we bring it to pass. So then
Talk OF it ere summers past, 80 ~
Christmas is sure TO come at last r. -
Alter Christmas comes Lent"
This is German: Mach weihnachten
komme fasten." This is a warning and
solemn proverb, something like, at is
dark under the lamp" However. as the
Danes say, Ambolat er like rad for en-
good forhammer"-the anvil does moi
lear a good sledge hammer, and he who
has held a glorious feast-tide finds SO
much rational pleasure in a season of
sobriety and quite joy.
"The bow can not be always bent;
Fast Christmas comes the sober Lent"
"a green Christmas makes a fat
churchyard."
"A Danish proyerb; EN- gran Jaul
givvn ct fed Kirkegaarn." This is
merely the old sanitary and weather
theory, that unreasonable weather is
unhealthy. When IL is warm in winter
inprudent people expose themselves to
the damp. unhealthy air, or become i'm
patient OF too much warm covering.
and are caught in a " cold snap, to their
sorrow." In the old times when most
people dwelt In badly-warmed, badly.
constructed houses, such changes in the
weather were of much greater signifi-
canoe than at present.
" An old bit of a truthful rule
A Christmas green, a churchyard FULL"
Closely allied to this, but without its
terrible warning, we have the German
proverb:
!" LIST das Wetter UNI Weihnacht gelind.
30 freut SIGH Mann, Weib und Kind.6
Which, in English, means:
is the weather at Christmas mild.
1t is joy to man, and wife, and child.
Christmas is a good time to bleed
horses in" This was an old supersti-
ton, and was closely followed. The
horses were run up and down until In a
sweat and then bled. AS Tusser sings:
" Ere Christmas be passed, let horses to DO let
blood;
For many purpose it doth them much good.
A green Christmas, white Easter"
"Gruene Weihnacht, weisse Ostern."
German, Of course. The same has
another form:
"Weihnacht In klee,
Ostern in schnee."
III Christmas he In clover,
Easter with snow'n be heaped over
And the same people say: "Ist das
wetter UNI Weihnacht gelind, so Wmhrt
die K@lte gewoehnlich LANCE bis Freuh-
jahr hinein." when the weather Is
mild at Christmas cold weather lasts
into spring" All of which proverbs
receive important modification when
applied to this our North American
climate.