Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-10-11
SOME STRANGE WORDS.

Many strange words are creeping into
our language through the more intimate
relations new railroads are giving us with
the Spanish-speaking countries south of
the United States.
Rancho and corral have long been
part of the common speech OF the South
west. and many other Spanish words have
become so naturalized that soon we shall
hear them without questioning their
origin.
Adobe-pronounced ah-do-bay-is a
name applied to the bricks Of sun-baked
clay of which the huts, hoyeis and walls
of the lower classes Of Mexico and New
Mexico are made.
1t is also applied as a generic term to
houses built of that material, and as a
term of contempt. 1t is shortened to
"doby" by our frontiersmen. Prof Orten
says it is derived from ':adoub," an Egyp-
tan word, still used by the Copts, carried
by the Moors to Spain, thence by the
Spaniards to America.
In making adobe bricks, the clay (or
mud) used is mixed with straw and spread
out in great beds, then cut up into cakes
of the requisite size or pressed in frames
of the shape desired and left to dry.
Many villages in Mexico and South
America are built entirely of adobe, and it
enters into the construction even of the
walls of important Cities Fred. a. Ober,
in Good Cheer.
THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.
"What is the ninth commandment? p
said teacher to a boy in Sunday-school
"'Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor,'"
"What is bearing false witness against
yotlr neighbour"
at is telling falsehood."
"That is partly true and yet it is not
exactly the right answer-because yoH may
tell a falsehood about yourself"
A little girl then said:
at is when nobody did anything and
somebody went and told of it,
THAT will do" said the teacher with a
smile.
The little girl had given curious an
swer, but underneath her odd language
there was pretty clear perception of the
true meaning Illustrated Weekly.
FOR THE BOYS.
You are boys now, but you will soon be
men. Then you will have your own way
to make in the world. Do you mean to
be idle and fearful, and deceive people,
and give them bad opinion of you? Or
do YOU intend to 60 to work, and act
bravely and nobly, and do Your duty, and
leave name behind Won when YOU die
which the world viii love and respect
Take care-now is the time. Did you
ever notice a large tree that grew crooked,
and was an ugly eyesore on that account
Perhaps il stood ON the lawn, right in
front of the porch, and your father
would have liked very much to straighten
it. IT was impossible to do so
A hundred horses could not have dragged
it erect And yet think Of the time when
the large tree was small sapling; a child
might have Strengthened it then, and il
would have grown properly, and everyone
would have admired it. BY this | mean
that boys ought to grow straight, not crook
ed. You are young now, as the tree was
once begin in time, ard YOU will be as
straight as an arrow when You are man.
If YOU wait, ii will be too late The way
to make men erect and noble is to take
them when they are boys and show them
that there is nothing in this world so noble
as doing their duty. Once more, say,
remember that though you are boys now,
YOU will be men soon.
You may do good or evil. If you are
false and worthless, you and everybody
else will have hard time of it. You
may be soldiers, Judges, statesmen, and
presidents. What you say or do may de
eide the fate of millions Of other people
These will look to you; and, more than
ALL God will watch you, and hold YOU to
strict account. If you are brave
and true and unseifish, Heaven will
bless you, and every one who knows you
will love and respect you. If you are mean
and cowardiy, and think of nothing but
your own pleasure, God and man will hate
you. Which Will you be? The greatest
of all things is to be pure and TO do your
duty From q Stories of Old Dominion"