The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-07
PROVERBS ABOUT WOMEN.
Some of Them Are Anything but Com.
plimentary.

Some OF Inem are anything DuC CON-
plimentary.
From american Notes and Queries
The proverbs of most countries are rich in
all subjects relating to women, although
frequently they are far from compliment
| airy.
Indeed, 1t is curious that in this source of
| literature we should find so much lima
tured sarcasm-oftentimes as unjust as it is
| untrue. According to well-known Ital-
| ian adage, "Whatever a woman will, she
can," saying which has its equivalent in
| other countries Hence, too, We are warned
| how:
The mans fool who thinks by force or skill,
To stem the torrent of a womans will;
For if she WILL she will, you may depend ont,
And if she won't, she won't, and there's an end
ont.
The notion that woman cannot keep
secret is embodied in many proverb, and
is alluded TO by Shakespeare, who makes
Hotspur say to his wife, in !. Henry w.:
Constant you are.
But yet woman; and for secrecy
No lady closer; forI we'll believe
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know,
And SO far will trust thee, gentle Kate.
Mr.. Kelley remarks, in his little book on
proverbs: 'If there be truth in proverbs,
| men have no right to reproach women for
blabbing. A woman can at least keep her
own secret. Try her on the subject of her
age" The industry of women has long ago
become proverbial, as in the couplet:
The woman that's honest, her chiefest delight
| If still to be dong from morning till night.
With which we may compare the COM
mon maxim, "a woman's work is never at
| an end" On the other hand, it was for
merly said of the woman who, after being
| q busy, industrious maid, became an indo-
| lent wife. ''She hath broken her elbow at
the church door," the ceremony of the
| church porch-where oftentimes part of the
| marriage service was performed-having
disabled her TO domestic duties. Thus an
| otheradage affirmed how
The wife that expects to have good name
Is always at home as If she were lame.
According to our forefathers it did not
look we'll for q woman to be always sight
seeing, as such was an indication that she
was not sufficiently domesticated, and was
TOO fond of pleasure. Hence it was usually
said:
A woman oft seen, a gown oft worn,.
Are disesteemed and held in scorn.
Even at the present day, according to a
well-known Yorkshire proverb, "A zonk-
town IA gossip is seldom good housewife
at home" Many of our proverbs speak of
the ffckleness or women, but surely this is a
| libel on their constancy:
The love of q woman, and bottle of wine,
Are sweet for a season, and last for time.
One adage tells us how "Maids say nay
| and take-a kiss, a ring, or an offer of
marriage" On the same principle it has
been commonly said: Take woman's
| first advice and not her second"
Among some of the many other proverbs
relating to women is the familiar one:
There's no mischief in the world done
But a woman is always one.
This is somewhat severe Judgment, and
one which must be received with caution.
According to another adage, women in
mischief are wiser than men," and it was
also said that "W omen's jars breed mems
wars" The Germans have the following
variation Of this proverbs There's no mis-
chief done in the world but there's woman
or a priest at the bottom of it."
There is the popular proverb which says
that "John is as good as my lady in the
dark" for, as an ancient Latin saying re-
| minds US, "Blemishes are unseen by night"
Whether we agree with this statement or
not, yet, as Mr.. Kelley remarks, quoting
the following lines:
That night
Elbows stars and women in better light.