The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-02-24
POPULAR PROVERBS.
SOME THAT ARE FAIRLY BRlMFUL or
ABSURDITY.

Neither Wit Nor Wisdom to Conn
mend Observation-Disclosures Sa yin;.s.
There is mistaken notion abroad,
says writer in London Tit Bits, that
proverbs are epitomes Of wisdom, the
concentrated experience of generations,
and that to quote one of them in a dis
cussion is to advance an unanswerable
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
a 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
to go to bed at unreasonably early hours
in the hope of becoming a sort of San
dow-R othschildSolomon, though we
all know milkmen and market garden
ers who get up at 5 a. m and are mel
ther 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 it's original modicum of
truth, and proves we must not venerate
proverbs On account CT their hoary an
tiquity.
The Early Bird Catches the Worm. =
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 sis broken at
last. Of course every pitcher, wheth
er it goes to the we'll 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
harm S way.
If You Want Thing Well Done, Do
It Yourself. There's shocking bad adj
vice with which to start a youth on
life's journey. If he wants a button
we'll sewed on, he's to do it himself; if
he wants his hair we'll cut, he's to cut
it himself He must mend his own
chairs, shoe his own nag, darn his own
socks. In short from buying horse to
backing his boots. he must do it him
self Poor fellow
8 A Contented Mind Is Continual
Feast. Can any one say what that
means? Does it mean that the owner
continually feasts on his contented mind
or that the contented mind is contin-
ually feasting? Probably the latter, as
we sometimes hear that ga 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 rule. But obviously there is no
exception to this rule, because if there
were a rule with an exception this
proberb would be untrue But the prov
erb is 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 it true,
the difficulty is to know where igno-
rance is bliss, and of course the prov
erb gives no assistance where it 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
A Little Learning Is Dangerous
Thing-They make that a reason not
for learning more, but for learning less.
Love Me. Love My Dog I go
accounting, 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
uuIGtSOudUlO O0IllduOS Ou lily dhCCU1Ouo
is wrong and absurd.
Seeing Is Believing. How can any re-
flecting person repeat these words? For
very often we believe we see what real
ly we do not If conjurer were to take
this proverb as his motto. every one
would see it's 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 absurdity
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
tionf of,.i,n o1 candidate ho-