The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-03-19
MANY OLD MAXIMS.
HOW THE KNOWN SAYINGS
GOT INTO TIE LANGUAGE

GOT INTO TIE LANGUAGE.
Quotations that Have Become PrOverbs-
Sayings that Have Popular Original
Phrase not In the I;ibic-Changing OF
Proverbs to Fit Different Localities.
J In the middle ages, when books, were
rare, it was sufficient to say - as it has
been written" and the thing wes accept
ed without further question. There was
no thought OF nskin% whore it was writ
ten, or by whom. People, however, as
time went on, got to see that it was de-
Blrablc to make some Inquiries into
origin, and, as natural result, Il great
many myths We're dissipated into thin
air, leaving not a wracE behind.
With proverbs the very same histOr-
ical sequence has taken place. A pro-
verb is found in number Of different
languages, and the assumption is i'm
mediately made that both peoples have
hit on the truth simultaneously. The
very identity of the words used, and the
fact OF their having the same extension
Of meaning is gravcly taken as q proof
that the maxim for conduct IN question
has grown and not been made.
But what is called the historical
method comes in here. The historical
method refuses to accept anything ready
made. 1t demands the how and the
whence, and believes that a knowledge
of both can be had if only. sufficient
patience be brought to the task
Now, just as there IS no such thing Is
spontaneous gene ration Of life in nature,
50 proverbs grow, and only arrive SLOW
ly at the state at which they become the
common property OF the market place.
Even between such seemingly diTare II t
things as epiErams or m4XiinS and ordi-
nary proverbs there is no real difference.
They are various stages OF th" same
thing. A maxim is "a prOvCrD elaborated
into greater cOmprehCnSivcncSs or an
incipient proverb which has not vet got
into general use. The best example in
this sort is La Rochefoucauld.
1t will be found on examination that
most sayings may be traced back to a
literary origin. What more common,
popular maxim is there than that " Pro
crastination is the thief of ime?" Yet
1t Is the first line of that most deadly dull
of books, Ioung's might THOUGHTS. -
Crowds of people have been bcfOOled into
imagining that The Lord tempers tho
wind to the shorn lamb" is /. Biblical
saying, yet it is only as old a. Strrne's
Sentimental Journey" Everybody
knows about the man who rcai Ham
let at an advanced age. and said ho
would have liked it if it had not been go
full of " chcstnuts." The fact is, that a
great part of it has become prOverbinl,
and SO common property. We no longer
have to read the play to imbiba Il lot of
its philosophy, for it is floating in the air
about us.
On the other hand, some sayings I'M
doubtedly have u popular origin. A
Enlpn6iG N no -pl IIti Of
occurs in the Old Testament in the his
tory of Saul. When the future first King
OF Israel appeared among the prophets
the people were astpniShcd He had
been of rather frivolous disposition.
some man in the crowd exclaimed, is
Saul also among the prophcts?' The ex-
preston caught on, and it has been a
familiar saying ever since.
We have among ourselves n very good
example of the same sort in the express
sion: A good enough Morgan till after
election
difficulty here meets us. How is it
that among Eastern illiterate nations
proverbs of the most perfect form and
literary finish are found? The same
state of affairs occurs III Spain
The explanation lies in the fact that
III both eases the people are able to get
the East generally the professional
story teller comes to village. In the
evening the inhabitants sit around the
tent, and he tells them tales, many of
them thousands of years old and full of
the condensed wisdom of ages In Spain
TIA" muieteer who wandcrS about the
c"uhIrJ nils exactly the same position,
ana 20 the literature popuIariZed by him
mus he largely attributed the richness
OF Spanish in proverbs.
lohI Weller was the proverb spinner
OF the Plckwick crowd. He got his fac
HItF IN IN" very Same way that the
Spanish mutetcer and the Persiau story
Teller got theirs. He met great many
people in his trips on the coach. and his
sayings got sharpness and clcarnoss 81
ou1,in' with every fresh repetition. No
douht many of them wer,. retailed i,
countless apDreciative hearers.
In the sam" way. the .Iarvc,- in Nv,
south OF Ireland is by ntturc Il iI.nuuf.,
tur"r OF proverbs. lie is IL parI of ,.
that II" has met, and, ~, action ana y.
acton are equal and Opposite. all TN.
az EaS met b"tOn!" part Of him
" men proNerb has gained . sure ;l.,.
III one language. AMI strikes some %,
S'rVer of n different race ana ciyiliyrt.
there is a difficulty about trar!au,.r;.
IL bodily. II 1t b" Eastern il viii hay.
reference that WI! not Tor instance, d.,
peal to Westerns. What then nai,...,..
Is that 1t Is localized. 1t i trrl{ct
tac very way that the names are alter.
In Il good story to give j, local color.
TINS way an Eastern proyerb about
camel becomes ii Western one ahoU.
hOrs". and so on
His grandmother was Dou.,hrit-
means ireland baf n, =. .,-...
Il parNenu- Tho s:rowta OF this sayiq.-
interesting 1t originally ran. ii
mother was Doughcrty and worta t.
pocket In this form it was applied
people VIII" had gotten rich rapidly.
cause the DouShertvs made . iol
money by Illicit diatilIinr The l;s,,
was struggled by means OF tin rr.
placed in the pockets OF the wuaia..
the distillers
From being applied first only to e
liy, 1t vas extended to ANYBODY ~,
having the tail emf OFF