The herald., 1895-08-10
SATURDAY. AUGUST 10, 1903.
TEMPORE nUTANTUR

When one wants to use an expression
that has become crystallized into pro-
verb or aphorism it makes little differ
ence to him who used it first or what
were the circumstances which called it
into being. 1t is enough that it teIsely
expresses the idea intended to be con-
veyed. and not infrequently contains all
the essentials OF the matter sum med up
prologue, tale and moral. Asa fair exam
pie may be taken the saying, which has
until very recently bsen regarded as
an axiom: What's sauce for the goose Is
sauce for the gander.
Can anybody tell who used it first and
under what circumstances? Or, rather,
does anybody care particularly? 1t is
enough that it has been and is verbal
multum in parvo. ana that its use at an
opportune moment has saved many a
Sancho Panza from an awkward fall
over the rocx-pile OF logic. This par
ticular phrase has been of more than Or
dinary service; and while it might be a
difficult matter to trace it very far back
into antiquity, there can be li.tle ques-
tion that in some form or other it is as
old as the human race.
When Solomon in the book of Eccles-
tastes made resume of his own ac-
complishments and possessions, he was
forced to the conclusion tnat all was van
ity--for the same death would claim
alike the intellectual giant and the fool.
They would ultimately be covered with
the same sauce-the same top-dressing
of mother earth.
Indeed. even at an earlier epoch than
this there was occasion for the employ
ment of this saw, and IN its literal sanse
as applied to gastronomics. And when
one considers the matter seriously the
conviction is forced home that here is
actually where the proverb had its origin.
The scene was the garden of Eden and
the dramatis personae Eve and the ser
pent. For stage properties an apple will
suffice. Eve has taken bite of the ap-
pie and few of the possibilities of eman-
cipated womanhood are revealed to her
soul. The spirit of comradeship with
which and for which she was created at
once asserts itself and with a sly wink at
the serpent and the remark that What's
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gan.
Ger." she seeks Adam and shares with
him the interdicted fruit, thus making
the first dim er en- famille" of which the
human race has any re cord.
But after four or five decades of centur.
les all this Is about to be changed. Here
after what is sauce for the gander will be
sauce for the goose-if so be it pleases
her. Little by little has the change
come about. First a hat; tnen a collar
and tie; next broad e1panse of shirt
front. to be followed by skirt bifurcation
and other suggestions Of masculine dress.
In athletics the development has been
equally rapid, and today the leg-weary
pedestrian has to look twice and even
thrice to determine if the being
astride the silent steed BIZ goose or
gander-and even then he is not really
positive.
And now these daughters of Eve are
asking, and with every prospect of ulti-
mate attainment, for participation with
man in all the functions u government:
and her greatest and most unanswerable
argument is the inversion of that same
old saylng-the goose and the gander
transposed. Verify the times have
changed. A few nj ore masculine touches
to the Dress a little further feminine
jnvasi On of athletic sports; another step
or two toward political equality-it may
come today and tomorrow we will read:
What's sauce for the gander is sauce for
the goose.