The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-10
USE OF THE PRoVERB.
Advantages That Are Witty and
Otherwise Celebrated Writer'S
Words.
From the London Globe.

Words.
From the London Globe.
Many proverbs have come down to
us from remote ages and are common
to all nations. 1t is said that a king
of Samos worked his slaves nearly to
death in making a vineyard, this pro-
voked one of them to prophesy that
his master would never drink of the
wine. The King, being told of this,
when the first grapes were produced
took a handful and pressing the juice
into a cup in the presence of the slave,
derided him as a false prophet. Many
things happen between the cup and
the lip" the slave replied. Just then
a shout was raised that wild boar
had broken into the vineyard. The
King, without tasting. set down the
the encounter. Henceforth the words
of the slave passed into a proverb.
From this Greek original came two
French proverbs: Between the hand
and the mouth the soup is often split"
and Wine poured out is not swal-
lowed" Neither is so near the orig
inal as our English There's many a
slip 'twixt cup and lip" 1t is curious
to trace how similar ideas have taken
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 Italians when
they say, Better an egg to-day than
a pullet tomorrow" and the French
proverb is still more significant, "One
here-it-is is better than two you-shall-
have-its." Better a levert in the kitch-
en- than a wild boar in the forest"
the Livonian saying, conveying the
same meaning. Another well-known
proverb, Where there's a will there's
a way" which signifies that if a man
has but the resolution he will make
use of such means as come to hand to
| attain his object. The French counter
part of this says, He that has q
good head does not want for hats. y
The proverbs on luck are numerous
and expressive in all languages. In
English we say, at is better to be
born lucky than rich" The Arabs con-
vey the same idea in the apt proverb,
Throw him into the Nile and he will
come up with a fish in his mouth"
while the Germans say, IF he flung a
penny on the roof, dollar would come
back to him." A Spanish proverb
says God send you luck, my son, and
little wit will serve YOU" There is a
Latin adage. Fortune favors fools,
and it is to this Tombstone alludes in
his reply to Jacques, Call me not fool
till heaven hath sent me fortune" The
Germans say, Jack gets on by his
stupidity" and Fortune and women
are fond of FOOLS" there is also a Lat
in proverb which shows that the con-
verse of this holds good. Fortune
makes a fool of him whom she too
much favors."
There is no doubt that much of what
is called success in life depends upon
getting we'll into the groove and
keeping there. Some unlucky Eng
lishman 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, "If 1 were to trade in
winding sheets no one would die" 1t
is to men of this stamp the French ap-
ply the proverb. Falls on his back
and breaks his nose;" the Italians, HE
would break his neck over a straw"
"Misfortunes seldom come singly'' has
many equivalents in all languages. The
Spaniards say, Welcome, misfortune,
if thou contest alone" and WHITTIER
goest thou, misfortune? To where there
is more?" The Italians have numerous
calls another" "A misfortune and a
friar are seldom alone" The same
applies also to good fortune. ''It new
er 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 it's 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
his inkpot." 1t is impossible in an ar
Gcle of this length to more than touch
the fringe OF this wide subject. Re-
ferring as they do to almost every
range of human concern, and necessa-
rily 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 student will find they
are abundantly capable of yielding
most interesting information.