Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-06-23
Origin of Familiar Phrases.
Globe Democrat.

Globe Democrat.
Scared Out of his Seven Senses The
| term seven" was popular among old
| writer's, and was generally understood TO
| moan the whole and thus soaring II man
| out of his seven senses" was equivalent to
| "frig hteDing him out Of his wis" La the
same way Pope reteis to science:
| Something there is more needful than
| expense,
| And something precious cen to taste
| tbs SaHee.
Good sense, which only is the gift of
heaven,
| And tho no science, fairly worth the
seven.
The ides OF the poet is that good sense is
| worth more than all sci nee, and no one
can success fully reiu g it.
The Flying Dutchman "A name given
by sailors to u phantom ship. supp sed to
cruise in storms off the Cape of Good Hope.
According to ira iton, Dutch Ca tain.
| I'D home from the Indies, met with
long CONTINUED head wi DIS and heavy
| weather off this cape and refused to put
back as he was advised t. do, swearing
| terri) de oath that be would at round the
cape if it took until tae day of Judgment
| TO acCOmplIsh the leaf. He was taken at
his wore, and doomed 10 beat against
winds ali his days. His sails are believed
TO have become thrrad-D pare. and the ships
| Siurc " II To VIII dSF anu hiiiStii anu
crew reduced almost 10 shadows, He en-
not heave cor lower a DO t. but sometimes
halls vessels through his trumpet and re-
quests them 10 take letters home for him.
rne supersti ion has lis gin 10 the loom
| ing or Apparent s spenslOn in the mir or
| some ships out of sight phi nODtnOn
| sometimes wiJnrs- ed at sea, and caused by
Unequal r.fraction il lhe lower strata OF
| lie atmO- pheTe.
Cbnlk Your hat -->Tbis cant phrase has
It's origin n Il literal illustration Of the
words " AdmIrali Reeside Was an owner
OF vari' u stage~co =chts III he days before
| rail- Oads aud spent most Of bis tine IN
Wash nstUn, which was in tact his rel
| dence for several y ears At the -nnual ad-
ibutnment of ing ess he would pass his
frienGs of the Il use and Senate>-~w hich
iaclut.d nearly the whole llst-Over any
stage line be controlled. He would say to
( an Onoan or kentuckian: Il s pp0se
OH are going back to Cincinnati or L. uis
willie, snd II pass you through by stage
When asked how be w"uld reply: Give
me your hat" and taking the offered
| chapeau he would make CAhalis lc chalk
mark on it impossible to court erf-it end
restore it with the remrk: " That will
, serve your turn; my agents will rec gn'z9
e It q yWheTe, and wont receive u ceEt from
the man who has bis hat so marked ="
Reside was right All bis agents knew
the sign at once. The thing became SO
SO common that sOmo fellows tried TO imi-
tafe it. but they were invariably dete t, d
and COMPELLED to leave the stage or paw
their fare In the South ami West "chAik
, your hat" sull stands tor what The East
styles dead heading.
DARK Horse The story of the origin of
this term, which is now SO commonly use j
! in political sense, is as follows: Once
upon & time there lived in Tennessee an
old chap named Sam Flynn, VINO traded
IL horses, and generally contrived to own
Il speedy nag or two, which he used for
; racing purposes whenever he could pick
. up soft match during his travel. The
best of his flyer wss coAl-hlack stallion
named Dusky Pete, who was almost a
borough bred and able to go IN the b st OF
3 company. Flynn was acc ustome1 to sad le
Pete when approaching town and ride
o him into it to give the impression that the
animal was merely a"likely hess" and
not fast stopper. One day be came to
l II town where a country race meeting WAS
I. being held, ADD be ent red Pete among
? contestants. The people of the town not
n Knowing anything of his antecedents, ard
not being over impressed by his appear
ance, backed two or three local f4voTi es
0 heavily against him. Flynn moved amO <
I the Gro d and to K all bets otfered against
g mis- nag just rs the "fiVrrs' were being
| s2ddlsd for the race old Judge Me Nc MIN
u am who was the turf oracle of that part
"A of the State. arrived on the course d was
IF made one of the judges. AS he took mis-
9 place on the stand he Vas told how the
e better ran, and of the folly of the owne of
e the TRANCE entry in back ng mis- plug s
'e heavily. Running his eye over t Track
70 the Judge instantly recognized Pete, and
said Gentleman, there's dark horse in
tn. rae that Will mA g me II you sick
10 ore supper." The judge was right
Pete, the dark horse, lid back until
the three qu nt4r pole Vas aceed VINE
fr u
the pu4se and Flynn's b5ts W th tho greal-
g est ease
= A Feather in Your Cap-Tbis D. rasa
d originate s'n an Oil martial custom
e Among ancient chic it was customary to
honor suci of their followers rs GIstin-
d guished themselves in battle by presenting
=. hem with II feat er for the cap, which
when not armnr. was the covering of their
heads. No one Was permitted the feather
except hose who mad done soma gallant
I deed 10 battle From this custom arose the
. saying VII a pc son has per formed Il
u meritorous action, that it will be a feath
n aved Out-This common, rath, 7
: slangly saying, Was first used in the modern
sense by an old standard author in the time
of Queen EIizsbet
The Bari. This phrase, which, like
1.-The dark horse" has become part of our
somewhat extended political literaf ure,
orig mated in dispatch to the Globe
Democrat from Jefferspn City about swo
weeks b fore the meeting of the Demo.
ratio N ational Convention, of 1876 10 St.
Louis In describing The sudden cha ge of
sentiment from Hen rricks to Tliden
e observable in the delegates to the State
G. INVENTION, the writer of the dispatch said
he had been informed by one of tn dele
gates hat Tilden's representative had bee n
t in Jefferson for few days and that he had
}. brought with him a bar o. money" to
distribute = among the boys"