The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-10-04

the Cat Ont of the Bag.
"Do you know who Mother Carey isp"
asked the man who delights in investigat-
Ing all sorts of odd things and who is new
er SO happy as when following up some
unusual line of thought
''She's a chicken fancier, imagine"
replied the man who takes things as they
come without question. "At any rate
she's seldom mentioned except in connec-
ton with her chickens
Mother Carey" said the Investigator,
and he took another look at the book he
held in his hand as if to guard against the
possibility of mistake, SIS the Virgin
Mary. The name comes from the Latin
Mater cara, meaning Mother dear, and
her chickens are the stormy petrels which
the sailors formerly believed were sent to
warn them Of approaching storms I tell
you, my boy, there's a great deal that's in
teresting in these odd expressions and
words if one takes the trouble to look it
up. Now, there is the saying, Don't care
a rap. How would you interpret thatP
What does rap meanP"
Gas an offhand guess, l should say that
it was substitute for word that begins
with d. and which is not supposed to be
used in polite society"
"You would be wrong" asserted the
man with the book. Rap is derived
from r.. A p which in turn comes
from India and stands for rupees, annas
and pice, representing the money of that
country. The expression is almost an ex-
act equivalent to that other, equally COM
mon, / don't care cent. Now, sup
pose if some one should ask you about
Jack and Jill, who went up hill, you
acters.
II certainly should.
And you would be wrong again.
Jack was the name of pitcher made of
waxed leather, and Gill was and still is
a measure of capacity That is how they
happened to go after water. Somebody
was doubtless carrying them and careless
ly dropped them"
When you say BY Jingop 1 suppose
you don't mean anything except that you
are excited or angry2"
THAT'S ALL ;"
Nevertheless you are literally swearing
by the evil one, for the word is from Jen-
co, which means devil in the Basque
language. / suppose, also, that you re-
gard carpet knight as a term of re-
proachP"
Naturally"
"Yet Henry Irving is carpet knight.
So was Tennyson, and so are and were
many others of whom England is proud.
A carpet knight is one who wins his title
by his achievements in the world of sol
ence or the arts OF, in fact, anywhere ex-
cept in battle. He may be really more de-
serving of the title than any of those who
won it by the sword
You must put in most Of your time
with dictionaries and cyclopedias," sug
gested the man who takes things as they
come.
mot at all. l am simply sufficiently
interested to look up these odd expressions
when run across them to see what they
really mean and whether we use them
properly Do you know why the patrons
of the top gallery of theater are called
the gods?'
Never even gave the subject thought
Well, they are SO described at the
Drury Lane theater in London, first, be-
cause the ceiling was painted in imitation
of blue sky, with cupids and angels fly
ing about. l imagine the term battle
royal conveys an idea of grandeur to you
in the fighting line.
II should think it ought to be rather
thrilling"
Nevertheless it was originally nothing
but cockfighting term and was used to
describe fight in which three five or
seven birds were put into the pit and left
until all but one had been defeated. How
do you suppose we got the expression cock
and bull story?'
Give it up"
You ought to investigate these things
If you are going to make use of them. A
man ought to know something about
what he is saying. This comes to us from
the time of the reformation. The papaI
bulls had cock on the seal, and Of course
there were a great many people of that
day who were inclined to discredit any
thing in the cock and bull line. But the
expression that doubtless will interest you
most is i don t care dam. /"
"You what?'
e 4 don't care damI'- the dam with
out the n, of course. ="
'sWhat difference does that maker"
"All the difference in the world. Dam
is a coin in India equivalent to an English
twopence If you are caught making that
remark in loud tone some time, it may
be worth something to you to know that
there is such coin. 1t will help you to
explain matters Now, where do you sup
pose bn6 WOIuS pS6lGI anu DuDDyi hlCehh-
ing policeman, come from2'
again give it up.
From the name of Sir Robert Peel
the founder of the London police force.
"Do you do anything except look up
these things?' asked the man who takes
things as they come.
''Oh, yes, replied the man of an inves-
tigating turn Of mind "When you get
{r+o tha bahit IF look iDU into tho origin oP
the expressions you run across, you do it
as an amusement at odd times Now,
yesterday it suddenly occurred to me that
didn't know why it is that we rob Peter
to pay Paul.
"Did you find out?''
Certainly. In 1850 several estates be-
longing to Westminster abbey were grant
ed to St Paul's cathedral for repairs and
maintenance, and Westminster abbey hap
pens to be dedicated to St. Peter. There
is an interesting story connected with
buying pig in poke too. :"
Lets have it. T"
"a countryman once put cat in poke
or sack and sold it in the market place as
a sucking pig The customer didn' It in
vestigate his purchase then, and when he
did he very naturally let the cat out of
the bag There, you have two explained
at once.
Its rather interesting, isn't itf'' said
the man who takes things as they come.
81 believe I'll look up the next odd ex-
preston come across myself ;"
s'Do, returned the Investigator. Pm
sure you will find it quite as interesting
as the genealogical fad and lot more in
structive. Chicago Post.