El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-20
By
Frederic
]. Haskin


were very expensive In Llie 14th cen
fury the makers We're allowed 20 sell
them only on the firsA and second days
OF January 1t became the custom TO
give women at their marriage a certain
sum Of money for buying pins and the
phrase pin money has been retained
to signify an allowance for a woman's
personal expenditures.
NO Royal Road" An Old One.
The expression there is no royal
road to learning" dates back to the
third century before Christ. PtOlemy
Softer, afterwards king of Egypt, was
the pupil of the famous mathematician
Euclid and when the royal youth asked
If geometry could not be made a little
easier the reply was the famous cpl
gram We are indebted TO Archimedes,
another famous mathematician of an
tiquity, for two phrases 1t was he who
said Give me a lever long enough and
prop strong enough and 1 can, single
handed. move the world"
Archimedes was also probably the
original ''absent-minded" mathema-
tician on whom JvAes have been based
for more than 1000 years. on one
occasion, Hero, the king of Syracuse,
suspecting that a goldsmith had sub
stltuted some other metal for pure gold
In certain coin, asked Archimedes to
find out if his suspicious were we'll
alchemist, was greatly troubled. While
thinAfng the matter over one day he
went to his bath which happened TO
be full to the rim AS he got in il
occurred 20 him that as much water
would run out as eQualled his bulk.
He then saw that if he put the coin
in a full pail of water and weighed
the overflow and then took a piece OF
pure gold the same weight as the coin
and put it in the same vessel refilled,
that the same amount O. water should
flow out. was so OverjOyed that he
ran out of the public bath and started
for home without waiting TO put on
his clothes, crying through the streets
Eureka Eureka / have found it, l
have found it! ON this discovery Archi-
modes based his law of specific gravity
English Peasants Started ''WindfalI."
The expression ''Windfall," meaning
good luck, dates from the time of Will
liam the ConquerOr in whose reign it,
was a criminal offence to cut down
timber in the forests. When a heavy
windstorm came and blew down trees
the peasants were allowed TO pick up
the fallen timber hence a windfaH was
an Occa sion for rejoicing.
One of the oldest of the popular ex-
pressiOns is sub rosa. literally under
the rose, The phrase dates back TO
Al B. c. when Pausanians, in command
SpartanS and the Athenians. entered
into secret negotiations with Xerxes.
the Persian ruler. 10 betray his country
and to obtain the hand of the mo-
narchs daughter in marriage. The
secret negotiations were carried on
in a building attached 10 the temple
Of Minerva, called the BraZen House,
the roof of which was covered with
roses.
IL Il
and in order to escape the vengeance
of his outraged countrymen he fled to
the temple of Minerva, which was
q galilnSSs.- iintruSio2 for Zio en-
purpose. The people were so enraged
AT being thwarted that they decided
to wall up the edifice and leave the
traitor to die Of starvation Pausa-
Mas own mother laid the first stone
After this 1t became a custom among |
had a confidential communication to /
make. the flower implying strict con-
fdence
Americas Motto From England.
America is indebted TO an Englishman
for its motto "E PIuribus Unum. /
1t was while John Adams was minister
TO England that he met Sir John Prest-
wick. an eminent antiquarian. who
suggested to him that it would be a
good motto to indicate the union of
The colonies. Adams communicated
his idea TO the secretary of congress
and on June 20, 1882, Charles ThOmp-
son reported his design for a govern
nent seal, and on it was the Latin le-
yend given above The phrase was
,Sed PS 4 mOStO TO- tho Gentlemen's
Magazine as early as 1870.
Fables Cause Many Phrases.
Contrary to general belief the ex-
PRESTON "halcyOn days" does not refer
q q former perinH in tho WORLDS his
DRY, or 70 the early and care free Pc
.oD of 80. ,-- -o--n .--,- p Il
seven days after the winter solstice. Z
December p. The phrase has grown
49, IaOIe, wnien nad is ~ ga
ieved at that time of the year men,
lOncU tha. mar, o.. - i>4il,<I4sner
'roOded over her young in Il floating
-rrF--~ - tt>~ va ~ and
hat during that period the seas were
,alN and could be safely navigated,
.c uat-ou the ~haIcyOn + I
lays.
The term without the pale comes I
o US from the time or King John of !
England who divided the kingdom / I
# Ireland, then nOminally subject
o England. into twelve counties |
This entire district Occpied by English | !
planters, was afterward. from them, 1
allied the Pale; within the Pale En-
ish rule w~S Acknowledged and obeyed
While all beyond was held by imper-
ect tenure.
Tomorrow Meeting of the Millers.