The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-12-31
USE OF THE PROVERBS.

king OF Samos worked his slaves
nearly to death in making a vine
yard; this provoked one of them to
prophesy that his master would nev-
er drink of the wine. The king, be-
ing told of this, when the first grapes
were produced, took handful, and,
pressing the juice into a cup in the
presence of the slave, derided him as
a false prophet. "Many things hap
pen between the cup and the lip" the
slave replied. Just then shout was
raised that a wild boar had broken
into the vineyard. The king, with
out tasting, set down the cup, ran to
meet it, and was killed in the en-
counter. Henceforth the words of
the slave passed into proverb. From
this Greek original came two French
proverbs, Between ti1e ilaI1u and the
mouth the soup is often split" and
"Wine poured out is not swallowed"
Neither is so near the original as
our English, There's many a slip
'twixt cup and lip" It is curious
to trace how similar ideas have TAX
en- root in different languages and
the various modes of illustrating the
same thought. To take, for instance,
one or two familiar proverbs in our
own language. We say, "a bird in
the hand is worth two in the BUSH"
The same idea is expressed by Ital-
ians when they say, Better an egg
today than pullet tomorrow" and
the French proverb is still more sig
ni6cant, Zone here-it-is is better than
two you-shall-have-its." Better a
leveret in the kitchen than wild
boar in the forest" is the Livonian
saying conveying the same meaning.
Another we'll known proverb is
"Where there's will there's way"
which signifies that if a man has but
the resolution he will make use of
such means as come to hand and at
tain his object. The French coun-
terpart of this says, ''He that has a
good head does not want for hats. "
The proverbs on luck are numer-
Gus and expressive in all languages.
In English we say, "It is better to be
born lucky than rich" The Arabs
convey the same idea in the apt prov
erb, Throw him into the Nile and
he will come up with fish in his
mouth" while the Germans say, eff
he flung penny on the roof a dollar
would come back to him." A Span
ish proverb says, "God send you luck,
my son, and light wit will serve
you." There is Latin adage, "For-
tune favors FOOLS" and it is to this
Touchstone alludes in his reply to
Jacques, Call me not a fool till heav-
en- hath sent me fortune" /" The Ger
mans say, "Jack gets on by his STU
pidity," and Fortune and women
are fond of fools;"
There is no doubt that fnuchs-nfu
what is called success in life depends
upon getting well into the groove
and keeping there" Some unlucly
Englishman is responsible for the
saying, "If my father had made me
a halter, men would have been born
without heads" but this can scarcely
be called original, as an unfortunate
Arab, ages ago, declared, eff | were
to trade in winding sheets no one
would die" 1t is to men of this
stamp the French apply the proverb,
Fails on his back and breaks his
nose" the Italians, "He would break
his neck over a straw" "Misfor-
tunes seldom come singly" has many
equivalents in all languages. The
Spaniards say, Welcome, misfor-
tune, if thou comest alone" and
Whittier goest thou, misfortune?
To where there is no more?" The
Italians have numerous proverbs in
the same strain: Zone i'll calls an
other, "A misfortune and a friar are
seldom alone" The same applies to
good fortune, "It never rains but it
pours," or, as the Arabs say, 'If
the wind blows it enters at every
crevice." "He that is down, down
with him." has its counterpart in all
countries. ''He that falls all the world
runs over" is the German mode of
saying it, and the Portuguese prov
erb runs, "All bite the bitten dog"
while the French equivalent is, ''When
a dog is drowning everybody brings
him drink"
But there is a Spanish proverb we
shall do we'll to remember; they say
of a tedious writer, HE leaves no
ink in the inkpot." 1t is impossible in
an article of this length to more than
touch the fringe of this wide sub
ject. Referring as they do to al
most every range of human concern
and necessarily associated with the
literature of every period, proverbs
have helped to preserve the memory
of events and ideas which otherwise
would have been forgotten. The stu
dent will find they are abundantly
capable of yielding most interesting
information. on.-LondoM Globe.
AGGREGATE AGE OF TWO HORSES Is "a
Working six days week on the
construction work of the New Eng
land Telephone Company at Marl-
boro, Mass, are two gray horses, the
combined ages of which aggregate
81 years. This statement is vouch-
ed for by their owner, Herbert E.
Lathe, who has owned them for for
ty years. He purchased the pair as
2-year-olds, and finished breaking
them himself. Mr.. Lathe secured the
horses in St. Johnsbury, VT, and he
says they never have had sick day
since he owned them.
They have been worked steadily,
and show every indication today of
being able to do as much work as
they ever did. In fact the owner
says that they can do more work in
eight hours than the younger ami,
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