Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-07-28
Rates Of Advertising,
WEEKLY CHRONICLE.
Origin of Popular Phrases.
Written for the Globe-Democrat

Contradand. Colonel Mallory had beena
member of the same political party with
General Butler, and had met him on friend
" terms at the Baltimore and Charleston
conventions. During the outbreak of the
late war the former came, under the pro-
lection of flag of truce, to Fortress Mon
roe, demanding the enforcement of the fugi-
tive slave law. The following terse colloquy
is reported to have taken place between
them:
You hold, Colonel Mallory, do you not"
said General Butler, - that negro slaves are
property, and that Virginia is no longer
part of the United States ?"
II do, sir" was the reply.
<'You are lawyer, sir" General Butler
added, land ask you if you claim that
the fugitive slave act of the United States is
binding in a foreign nation, and if foreign
nation uses this kind of property to destroy
the lives and property of citizens of the
United States, if that species of property
ought not to be regarded as c0ntrd6dRd?"
Colonel Mallory could not deny this COM
nonsense statement, and he withdrew
''speechless" but exasperated. This decisS
ion, so apt and so unanswerable, was re-
| ceiyed throughout the whole country with
general burst of acclaim. After this, during
the whole progress of the war, the fugitive
| slaves received the name of c0ntrabd7ads.
| BuHc0n1be.-A generation or so since a
North Carolina member of Congress got the
floor one day and delivered speech so long,
so windy, and so full of high-sounding
phrases of so little meaning that the hall
was deserted of hearers. When asked why
he made a speech of so little interest to his
fellow-members, he replied that he was
speaking . for Brncombe," the county
which sent him, intending to distribute his
speech, when printed, to his constituents
there. Ever since, when an orator delivers
a windy speech, with which he hopes to get
some renown from people of little under
standing he is said to be speaking for
Buncombe."
7oboo.-In the Sandwich Islands and in
New Zealand, the early European discover
ers found among the natives custom called,
in the native language, . tabee." It is
called, in the English language, taboo.
TIE stations mUTpur but the deeps arr
dunb.-An adaptation from Quintus Cur
thus Rufus 'Altissima que que fumina
minimo sono labunter." The English line
is to be found in 1.-The Silent Lover" usu
ally attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh.
HTrdh. Thousands of people have
= shouted . hurrah !" many time and oft,
y but comparatively few know its derivation
aIu pLlIhdIy HSdLHLS. II oIlSluateu alHOus
: the Eastern nations, where it was used as.
war-cry from the belief that every man whc
died in battle for his country went tt
heaven. 1t is derived from the SclavoniC
word Hurraj, which means ito paradise.
. 1ooruS 1ooraS ia, Ia, a," dc.-Tht
seeming nonsense choruses of many ole
English ballads are in reality the remnant.
of the songs sung by the ancient Britons il
the celebration of their sun worship. "Fa
la, Ia" is written in Welsh "fal la,"-fa
meaning circle or sun, and Ia a day. an(
both words expressing the completion of
day. AS the Druids marched round thei
stone circles, like those still discernable a
Stonehenge and on the Sussex Downs, the,
chanted their meaningful chorus ''Fal-la
fall, as the god they worshiped sank be
hind the western hills So, down, down
derrydown," in the original is ''Dun, dun
dearagan dun" and it means "To the hill
to the oak, to the hill, and was therefore
call to worship. The old Puritan poet
! George Withers, used another of thes,
/ Druidical choruses in one of his pleasant
ditties: