The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-07

Jence, which means devIl In the Bas-
cue language l suppose, also, that you
regard carpet knight as a. term of re-
proach."
Naturally"
yet Henry Irving Is a carpet knight;
SO was Tennyson, and so are, and were,
many Others of whom England is proud.
A carpet knight is one who runs his title
by his achievements in the world of science
or the arts, or in fact, anywhere except
in battle. He may be really more deserV-
ing of the title than any of those who won
1t by the sword"
You most put in most of your time with
| dictionaries and cyolopedias," suggested
the man who takes things as they come.
Not at all. l am simply sufficiently in
tereeted to look up these odd expressions
when / run across them TO see what they
really mean and whether we use them prop
erly DO you know why the patrons Of
thetop gallery of a theater are called
the gods?"
"Never even gave the subject a thought"
"Wen they are so described at the Drury
Lane Theater, in London, first, because
the ceiling was painted in imitation of
blue sky, with cupids and angels flying
about l imagine the term battle royal
conveys an idea of grandeur to you in The
fighting dine"
Il should think II ought to be rather
thrilling"
Nevertheless, it was originally nothing
but a cock fighting term, and was used 10
describe a 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 1t up"
you ought to investigate these things
| IL 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 papal bulls
had a cock on the seal, and of course there
were a great many people of that day who
were inclined to discredit anything In the
cock and bull line. But the expression that
doubtless Will interest you most is, 1 don
care a dam
You what?"
| " 1 don't care a dam!-the dam without
| the n of course"
| What difference does that maker
IAN the difference In the world. Dam
! Is a coin in India equivalent 10 an English
/ twopence. If you are caught making that
remark In a loud tone some time 1t may be
/ worth something to you to know that there
| Is such a coin. II viii help you to explain
! matters Now, where do you suppose the
words 'peeler' and bobby meaning police
| man, come from?
! again / give ii up"
From the name of SIR Robert Peel, the
/ founder of the London police force. We
also get some Of our favorite expressions
from our friend the enemy"
! Meaning"
dThe Spaniards. 'Filibuster Is from the
! Spanish 'dlibote' which In turn Is a cor
4 ruption of the English hyboat Then our
expression All serene Is from the Span
lsh Serena, which has been used in Cuba
| by sentlnels for AIS we'll
do you do anything except look up
| eIr takes
| things as they come.
"Oh yes" replied the man of an inves-
! tigatng turn of mind. when you get
| into the habit OF looking into the origin
| of the expressions you run across you do
| il as an amusement at odd times. Now,
| Yesterday it suddenly occurred to me that
l didn't know why 1t is that we rob
| Peter to pay Paul
| did you find outT
Certainly. In 1850 several estates be-
longing to Westminster Abbey were grant
ed to ST. Paurs Cathedral for repairs and
maintenance, and Westminster Abbey
| happens to be dedicated to st. Peter.
There Is an interesting story connected
with buying a pig in a poke, too"
Lets have it,"
"A countryman once put a cat In a poke
or sack and sold it in the market place
| as a sucking pig. The customer didn't
! Investigate his purchase then, and when
ne did he very naturally let the cat out
Of the bag There. you have two explain
| ed at once"
ut Is rather interesting, isn't t?' said
! the man who takes things as they come.
II believe I'll look up the next odd ex-
| preston I come across myself"
DO" returned the investigator. I'm
sure you will find IL quite as Interesting
as the genealogical fad and a lot more in
! structive." Il. f.