Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-03-21
POPULAR PROVERBS.
SOME THAT ARE FAIRLY sRIMFUL OF
ABSUROITY.

There is mistaken notion abroad.
saws a writer in London TitBits, that
proverbs are epitomes of wisdom, the
concentrated experience of generations,
and that to quote one of them in a dis
I.ussion Is to advance an anarswerable
argument. And yet what is there to
recommend many of them beyond their
Jingle? Take our familiar friend:
Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes
Man Healthy, Wealthy and WISE
obviously, the main idea was to find
word to rhyme with ''rise, and wise"
was the unfortunate word chosen. And
now, trustful little boys are persuaded
20 go to bed at unreasOnably early hours
IN the hope of becoming d sort of San
dow Rothschild- Solomon, though we
all know milkmen and market garden
srs who get up at > a. IN. and are nei-
Their rich nor clever. and members OF
parliament who go to bed late and are,
If not clever. at least not poor and in
firm. Since the invention of gas and
electric light this ridiculous old proverb
has outlived its original modicum of
truth, and proves we must not venerate
proverbs on account CT their hoary an
.iquity.
| Inc SdbCHt'S the
The mistake made here is that it assumes
we are all birds But some of us are
worms. If we were not. what would
become of the birds? And, therefore.
while the birds do we'll to be early, let
the worms be late-the later the better.
The Pitcher That Goes Oft to the Well
Is Broken at Last.-Note, it does not say
sis broken first but lis broken at
AH ,%ol, -l,,t H.
II it goes to the well or stays on the
shelf. is broken at last, and the only re-
suit of this absurd proverb is to encOur-
age lazy folk to do as little work as pos
sible and unnecessarily keep out of
harms way.
If You Want Thing Well Done, Do
It Yourself. There's shocking bad ad-
vice with which to start a youth ON
life's journey. If he wants button
we'll sewed on, he's to do it himself; if
ne wants his hair well cut. he's to cut
lit himself. He must mend his own
chairs. shoe his own nag, darn his own
socks In short. from buying horse to
blacking his boots, he must do it him
self. Poor fellow
| A Contented Mind Is a Continual
Feast.-Can any one say what that
| DOe'S II IIldb tIS OWL
continually feasts on his contented mind
IT that the contented mind is contin-
1aIly feasting2 Probably the latter. as
we sometimes hear that "a hungry
mans an angry man. and we all know
that satisfied appetite is the source of
contentment Hence it is not the con-
tented mind which makes the feast. as
the silly proverb implies, but the con-
tinual feast which produces the con-
tented mind.
There's No Rule without an Excep-
tion.-This is not only proverb; it is
also n rule. But obviously there is no
exception to this rule. because if there
We're rule with an exception this
proberb would be untrue. But the prov
erb is a rule which has no exception,
which, as Mr.. Euclid would say, Is alb
surd Which was to be shown.
Where Ignorance Is Bliss, It's Folly
to Be Wise.-For oracular stupidity
this proverb may be classed with the
one about the pitcher. Granting 1t true,
the difficulty is to know where lgno-
rance is bliss and of course the prov
erb gives no assistance where 1t Is
most needed. Most people quote it as
Ignorance is bliss, in their blissful
ignorance, but if proverb gives rise
to error it is not only absurd; it is also
dangerous. When people say
y Little Learning Is Dangerous
lThing-They make that n reason not
for learning more. but for learning less.
Love Me, Love My Dog. go
la-cCurting. and my ladylove bids me love
her scented, dyspeptic poodle. which Is
not necessary to her health and comfort,
must / not much more love her glass
eye and false teeth and hair, which are?
Yet common sense revolts at the notion.
and therefore assume that proverb
which. logically treated. makes such
unreasonable demands on my affections
is wrong and absurd
Seeing Is Believing. GLOW can any re-
fiecting person repeat these wordsT For
very often we believe we see what real
" we do not. If conjurer were to take
this proverb as his motto. every one
would see its absurdity. A straight
stick half submerged in water looks
crooked. Fortunately, another proverb
says, Trust not to appearances And
this bring US to the exquisite absurdlty
of popular proverbs which run in con-
Trajectory pairs and support both sides
of an argument Thus one proverb says,
Look before you leap; another,
''Who hesitates is lost Sometimes we
hear that Second thoughts are best"
at other times that Delays are danger
Gus" The desperate man relies on
Nothing venture. nothing have;' the
cautious man on Never venture out of
your depth till you can swim The
impatient matrimonial candidate be-
lieves that ''Happy's the wooing that's
not long a-doing;" the tardy one that
enc may Marry in haste and repent az
leisure" And so on ad minimum Abb
sence makes the heart grow fonder"-
..Out Of sight, out OF mind. p" Its never
too late TO mend fool at 40 Will
never be wise - ''Too many cooks spoil
the broth'-''There's safety in num-
l. hnndr haffnr than