The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-04-21
WELL-KNOWN PHRASES.
HOW THE FOLLOWING ARE SAID TO HAvE
ORIGINATED.

HOW THE FOLLOWING ARE SAID TO HAVE
OBIGINATED.
HURRAH.-This word, which is so fire.
quentIy shouted, in this country especially,
originated among the eastern nations, where
( it was used'as a war-crv, from the belief that
every man who died in battle for his country
went to heaven. II is derived from the Sla-
vonic word, "Hurrai, - which means 'to Par
/ adIse"
WHAT ARE You GIVING Me 2-This oft
/ repeated eXpression-indicative of disbelief
/ which has been added to the vocabulary Of
slang, has no less q source than the Bible. It
may be found in the thirty-eighth chapter of
/ Genesis.
A CAT NAY LOOK AT A KING. This say
ing IS said to have had the following origin
. When Charles H. was fleeing, in disguise,
+ from England to France. he was sitting on
/ deck directing the course of the vessel, when
one Of the sailors filing his pipe near BY.
/ blew some Of the tobacco I'm his face The
master Of the ship ordered the marine to 90
further away from the gentleman when
. he. grumblingly, replied, quite ignorant as to
the quality Of the passenger: "a cat may
look at a king"
''SwEET BY-AND-BY. This pOpularbvmn
was the work Of two men-Joseph P. Web
steT, now dead. who composed the music, and
/ DR.. F. s. Bennett, at the present time a res
ident Of Richmond I'll. the author of the
verses. The two wrote q hymn book i'm 1874
and the ''Sweet Bv-and-Bv'' was one Of the
pieces Jointly produced for it. The sucges.
tion came from chance remark by Webster,
who was hahituqlIv despondent. that all
would he well "bv-and-bv." Bennett Mt once
made the rhymes and Webster brought the
music ont Of fiddle which was his custom
aTv aid IN composition. The HYMN book had
its dav and is forgotten but this one tune IS
put into every new publication Of the kind.
and has a sale of about 10. 900 copiez a year
IN sheet form. DR.. Bennett saws that he and
Webster were not orthodox Christians when
the hymn was written, and that he is now
even less believer.
As DEAD As A HERRING. This expression
has a simple origin The herring. which
when fat is called a ''boater" dies immedi-
atelv upon its removal from the sea Tt
wants air, and can live only in salt water
whereas eels live a long time after leaving
their native element. Swimming so near the
surface, rs it does, thu herring requires much
ai-, and the giIls when dry caurot perform
their function-that Of breathing.
GROG.-AdmiraI Vernon, the same after
whom Mount Vernon was called. was the
first to require his men to drink their spirits
mixed with water. In bad weather he was
in the habit Of walking the deck in 4 rough
GrOGram cloak, and hence had obtained the
name of cold Groc'' in the service. Such
was the name applied to rum and water
LDrEo OR LnrBUs.-L Lat 'Llmbus," a
border-l A region supposed by some Of the
old scholastic theoIogfans to lie on the bor-
ders OF confines Of he'll. Here. it was Thought.
the souls Of Just men, not admitted into
heaven or into purgatorv, remained to await
the general resurrection. Such were thppa-
triarchs and other pfous ancients who died
before the birth Of Christ. Hence the aIim-
boz was called 'Hfmhus patrum - Accord
ing to some Of the school men there was also
"limbus pUerp0Tum" or 'Infantum,"
similar place allotted to the souls Of infants
dying unbaptizad. To these were added. in
popular opinion 'limbus fatu0rum.' or
FOOLS paradise. the receptacle Of all vanity
and nonsense.
JACK KETCH. "A harCman OF executioner,
commonly so called from one John Ketch. a
wretch who lived in the time Of James II.
and made himself universally odious by the
butehery Of many brave and noble victims,
particularly those sentenced to death by the
Infamous Jeffreys during the "BIoody As
sizes
HALCTOE DAYS. -Ialcyoue was the wife
of Celyx, and the latter having met his death
by drowning Halcyone cast herself into the
sea with the dead body, and both were trans
formed into the kingfsher bird. The animal
lays its eggs on rocks near the sea iu calm
mid-winter, and the 'ha'cyon days. are
therefore seven days before and after the
winter sOlstice.
A BONE To PICK.-It was an old marriage
custom in Sicilyfor the brides father to give
the bridegroom a bone, saying "Pck this
in order to show how you can manage wife,
which is more difficult than picking bone
This is common explanation but the prac-
tice of throwing bones to dogs is a more nat
uTal method of accounting for the saying.