Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1884-10-30

Ssne Pepalar Preverbs.
Solomon has been held up to the
admiration of the civilized world a.
the wisest maa that ever -I~sd~-Ae
undoubtedly knsv agreatdsaL The
best proof Of his wisdom e the fact
that he discovered the Ophir mine
long before the Comstoek lode was
known to any person, and worked it
for all it was worth in those days.
He never placed the stock on the
market, but held it all himself, and
drew all the dividends. II be lived
nowadays, Benjamin Franklin But
Ter would can him q Inonopolist and
call upon the workinglnen hot TO vote
for his candidate. 81
Solomon wrote some proverbs, and
they were thought very highly of in
the good old times. Even to this
day, in certain parts df the country
conservative people regard them as
imperishahle monuments Of antique
wisdom, and prefer them to the liv-
ing, breathing utterances of Roscoe
Conkling and George Francis Train.
Other people have also originated
proverbs. Like all great men, Solo
mon has had his imitators, and now
the world is flooded with remarks
that read like the morals Of decayed
fables. Let US take fieeting glance
at some of them.
"You neuer miss the scdter till the
,Ueu runs dry"
That looks like . fair statement,
doesn't it? Now, let US see. When
q man gets UP in the morning, and
finds that the pitcher in his room
doesn't contain q drop Of water, and
knows that the hydrant is down in
the back yard-three flights of stairs
away and the thermometer 10 at
zero, doesn't he miss the water?
Well, VIC should remark! Is the well
dry? Not q great deal.
When fellow is rowing boat in
a mile race, and be comes forward
like lightning and then yanks his oar
about foot above the surface OF the
river and rolls backward Oh the seat,
doesn't be miss the water? Some
what ...-s-44ya-=s
"1ae burnt child breads the FIRE."
That's another of the same kind.
Did you ever see . small boy con-
struct big bonfire? Did you ever
see a boy run and jump over 1t when
1T was blazing, and burn his bare toes
Iby lighting on an ember? Well,
when there MAS another bonfire in that
street. did that boy ram his hands
down into his pockets and 60 take .
walk around the next block?
Say! Did you ever see . Fourth Of
July? Did you ever see boy set OF
q fire-cracker that wouldn't 60, and,
when he went back to see what was
the matter with it, enjoy the greatest
surprise party of his life BY having 1t
| 90 off in his hands and burn Ill his
fingers! On the next Fourth that
boy wouldn't touch q fire-cracker
with q ten-foot pole, would he? oh,
no, of course not. That's just the
kind of boy boy is, isn't it7
IDS the t,oig is bent, so is the tree
inclined" ' -'s' %.
THIS is q metaphorical proverb. We
never knew q tree had any inclina-
tions at oil, unless 1t had an inclina-
ton to leave. Any one can - that
there are . great many twigs on Q
tree, and they are bent in . great
many different directions. New, .
tree hasn't got time to pay attention
to all Of them.
II the proverb had stated that as
the tree is bent SO is the small boy
inclined, one might have been able to
.on ,oxnn o-oaa sr 10
"1he boy Is father to the man."
Any one can see that isn't true. II
it is, why doesn't the boy thrash the
man when the man don't get up in
the morning and 60 to school!
"Spare the rod and spoa the child"
This is genuine, downright bad
advice. The very worst thing q man
can do is 10 spare the rod and spoil!
the child. Boys were made TO be
whipped. 1t doesn't spoil boy to
whip him. He's just as good after
the whipping as he was before, and
can be lambasted again the next day
with equal effect. As for the rod,
there is no need OF sparing it. Rods
are cheap.
"Gredt srits are sure 10 madness
near allied"
This proverb is true. There is
. more truth TO the square inch in this
. jproverb than there is in most news
, lpapers. There never was humorist
. who was not more or less mad. II
you don't think so, 60 and start &
comic paper, and il you don't gel
I rip-staving, snorting, roaring mad
y inside Of week, wen present you
, with the back-numbers OF our OWE
wrath. The author OF this proverl
7 was not Solomon. but Bfr. j. Dryden
n "7o the rictor belonged the spoas. -
a This is political proverb. Itwa'
r written by Stephen W. Dorsey. 1T
truth hes never been questioned, an,
I We don't propose to question is nov
I There is not any doubt that The vic