New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-23
SAYINGS Of THE POOR.
PrrHY EXPRESSIONS OF UNCONSCIOUS
HUMOR AND IMPRESSIVENEss


French servant, who had. no doubt, had
hard week, gave an excellent instance OF the
translation of an English phrase IL was
case Of conveying to me that mere haa oeeh =
would prevent his taking advantage or gen
eraI holiday. "Heinl Alright, alright kut
Madame does not know, perhaps! Moncay
throwing indignant fingers toward me- TN
twelve l have not been on re back Tuesday
again, and wiz siz lonche; and once more
Wednesday / have not been on re PACK An
of which was only a very good way or putting
our expression Of being on ones feet all day
Among poor people such sentences are legion
One must wonder IL they are invented at the
moment or IL they are sayings This, In ex-
preston of the old-fashioEed view OF a modern
servant: ut isn't she isn't good enough girl
She's willing and she's strong. But hightH
Why, she leaves the house ten times Tor every
once she comes in.
The wisdom Of a mother or grandmother can
be quoted with effect and prove most disarn-
ing to criticism. There was, for instance, the
girl servant who would meet any attempts al
correction or blame with There; l Know; For
mothers often said, Well! OF all the girls
ever did see-you are one" And this there
was no denying.
Charles Dickens understood this power OK
phrases made from nonsense or nothing that can
be so direct in its result, so unanswerable ana
conclusive. His books are filled with instances
OF the nature OF Mrs. Crupp's sympathetic an
swer to young Davids sorrowful unbosomings
Don't, Mr.. Copperful-not another word I'm
a mother myself - -,
He would have liked the story Of the needle
woman whose services were engaged by the
day, and who had habit OF emphasizing her
conversation with the words AS SUDDEN as !
sit here" Arriving In the morning, she su
till evening at her work. and was rooted IN
stituton in the house. But in her me deter
mination to put a convincing reality to what
she said, she would speak as II she had al tha1
moment appeared through the ceiling
or this force of expression, whether achieved
by straight or inverted methods, Slang gives
many instances And the American phrase that
questions the security OF an OBJECT or cohesion
of scheme with will it stay putt" is, to my
mind, its ugliness apart, very pattern OF
concentrated meaning. Among the cottagefs
this power Of expression results, as we nave
seen, from their use OF simple language; OF
those plain words that state their case, IN
hampered or weakened by any search after
extraordinary effect ..
They will tell you the story Of an accident or
of a sorrow in the language Of the Bible, and
one is reminded, by their almost crude sim
plicity of narration. of the quiet strength IN the
description OF the death Of the Summarizes son:
." And when the child was grown II feu
on day that he went out to his father, to the
reapers And he said unto his father ny
head, my head. And his father said to lad
Carry him to his mother. And when he had
taken him and brought him to his mother hs
sat on her knees tilf noon, and then died
And she went up and laid him the bed
of the man Of God, and shut the door upon
The poor speak like that Unknowingly though
it may be- they have kept true sense OF the
weight and value Of words
A Scottish farmer who had grown to be very
old put the wisdom of lifetime into one
sentence He had been listening to the story
of a strong young heart beside him; ana Ma
dearie" he said very quietly, there's no con-
tending.
But this use of the fine old simple words OK
our language can be funny as well as grand
This was in the cottage of an old woman VINO
lay very Ill, and whose daughter-in-aw came
on a visit to nurse her:
We'll I'm here till next Tuesday, m m, put
after that | must go. | don't know VINO II loon
after mother. I'm sure, beyond Sarah, and she
can't stay more'n week. You see, leave nVe
behind me, and they're all males. My huspanu,
two dodgers, and m sons And you see, peing
all males it's not as II there was one among
them as can do anything, like, for themselves
So that's where it is. And l must get nome OF
I'd stay, and welcome"
Such unwilling irony too, was in this woman's
view of man. and the more scathing because "
/ was so simply said.
I have touched before in these papers on
epitaphs and the real forced feeling they
| convey But for beauty of moderation this
epitaph Of a Scottish shepherd on ms doS ieaus
all the rest The cOllies are trained to fetch the
sheep from the hills where they have been wan
dering often for days If there are some MISS
ing There's three wantin'," the man says or
There's twa wantin'," the case may be, ana
the dog watching the wave Of his masters
hand from a distance. and hearkening 10 ms
voice. goes off again and again IN search '''
the flock is found complete. 81,
On a certain farm there was a dog ABOVE NO
kind. sagacious and true. And when ne CAM
to die the shepherd put just these words o'ei
| his grave, There's yin wantin.
nUu tUcrDtTJaE pFDFPdJ CAPITAL,