, 1888-01-28
PROVERBS oE HE NATIONS.
What the Various Peoples Say of Them.
selves md Other.

a drunkard, the Frenchman a scamp, the
Dutchman q butterman and the Spaniard
a cavalier" and again: at is best to be
born in Italy, to live in France and to
die in Spain"
The Russians say: ''Englishmen have
their wits at their fingers ends, French
men at the ends of their tongues"
1t Is said in Poland: What the Ital-
ian invents the Frenchman makes, the
German sells, the Pole buys and the Rus
slams take from him."
The Italians say: when trouble
comes the German browns it in drink,
the Frenchman talks it down, the Span
lard meets it with tears, the Italian goes
to sleep till it is past"
Among the Germans England is said
to be the paradise of women and the pur-
gatory of servants, but n far worse place
than that for horses.
About the French say the Italians:
'They do not tell what they intend to do,
nor read what is written, ncr sing the
notes set before them !" and n German
says: "A Frenchman is n good acquaint-
ance, but n bad neighbor :" n truth which
Prince Bismarck is never tired of i'm
pressing on the people, and urging them
accordingly to enlarge the standing army.
The negroes in n French colony say
"Mouche (Monsieur) Connaitout pas CON
matt tout"-M:. Know-all don't know
at all.
Perhaps the Greeks fare worst of all in
the opinions of those who have to do with
them, if we may judge by the sayings
concerning them that pass from mouth
TO mouth. Among the southern Slav
races this is especially the case. They say 4:
Three Turks and three Greeks make up
six heathens y and "a crab is not a fish,
nor n Greek n true man." and again, "a
Greek speaks the truth once n year " and
once more, "a Gypsy cheats n Jew, n
jew a Greek, and a Greek the devil"
The Nenetians say: 'IHe who trusts
the word of n Greek is moro fool than
the mailman" Even in Normandy the
rcputo of the Greek has passed into n
provcrb, and he VINO obtains something
quite unexpectedly is said to have ''got
paid by n Greek"
Holland and Flanders have both been
places of refuge for bankrupt and fraud
ulent F~renchmen for Il long time, and as
such are regarded proverbially in France.
Go to Holland meal evade paying
your debts. And to say of n man III
est de Flandres, " is the same rs saying
he 10 II ruined man.
Mynheer Van Dunck, though he never
was drunk, sippod brandy and whisky
daily-for the Dutchman's draught must
be deep as the rolling Zuydcr Zee. That
we all know, and to drink like n Dutch
man Is everywhere proverbial.
or Italians it is said by tho French:
''lIalf one is too much in the house,"
and the Ilyrian says of the Italian, what
the Euglishman and the German say of
the Swiss: He would sci his own father
for gold
The jew shares with the Greek the
prcrogativc OF being the best abused of
all peoples, proyerbially.
The Pole says:
Tho German cheats the Pole,
The Italian cheats the Germ m,
The Spaniard swindlcs tho italian,
The jew dcfrnuds the SpaDiard,
But only the devil can get The better Of the Jew.
The German says: The jew cheats
even while praying;" and the inhabitant
of Lesser Russia: 1.-The jew did not
learn to cheat; he was born with the
faculty"
To build castles in the air is rendered
in French, having a castle in Spain.
Compliments that mean nothing are
called Spanish coin; and in Italy. poison
is designated euphemisticalIy Spanish
figs because ~Spaniards are supposed to
poison those they desire to be rid of with
fruit in which arsenic has beer inserted.
The Swiss is not known proverhially
for his patriotism, but for his mercenary
nature. mo kreutzer, no Schwit2er, -
is a common saying in Germany, and
Point d~'argcnt, point de Suisse" is the
French version of the same. One even
ing when a distinguished Genevan ac-
tress and u Swiss company were perform
ing William Tell in Paris they had AZ
empty house. The actress came forward
and said; Il see-the proverb is re-
versed. Today it is no money, plenty of
Swiss"
We speak of carrying Goals to New
castle when we wish to designate the
absurdity of sending something to where
there is superfluity; in Russia they speak
of sending sno to Lapland and In Ger
many of dispatching deals to Norway.
In Holland, when they desire to say that
a man is in his element, they describe
him as being like n goat in Norway
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