The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-08-17

run a livery stable and 70 rent out
SteedS 10 the horse back riding gallants
of that long ago day. While his sta
BILE was well filled with horses, they
were. as usual in livery sta bles. of va
rying degrees of speedineSs. but no
choice was permitted his customers.
4 The horse that stood nearest the door,
whether he was spawned. ring bOned
or thoroughbred. was the one that
the next customer had to take, and
they all were rented at the same rates.
Hence "HobsOn's choice" came to be
a synonym for no choice at all, which
is the sense in which we use IL today.
1t is an unfortunate thing. due to
the cost of high living, that once in a
while some OF us are dunned for debts
that we owe and have not found il
convenient TO pay. 1t is eXasperating
to receive a dun but some of the
initiated recipients might feel more
pleasantly about il if they knew that
the word dun was classical and the
process had been known by that
phrase from antiquity.
Way back i'm the reign Of Henry
VII, the father and immediate prede-
ceSSOr on the throne OF the much mar
rled Henry, there Was baiiim of the
city of London, who rejoiCed in the
name OF Joe Dun. So successful was
Joe DUN in getting money ont of de-
lnquent debtors that the merchants
of that day used TO saw II shall have
TO put an account in the energetic ba-
hts hands, and the name of this
pioneer professional collector of debts
crept gradually into our language until
ii was adopted to signify urgent and
inSiStent demands for payment.
The Corrupted Bumper.
We ali of US drink TO the health
of someone in the course OF our lives
and when the glass is particularly
large and the drink uncOmmonly gen
- .1rsrr IL
ers' of wine. Most of us know what
the after effect is of bumper drink
ing, but few know whence il origin
ated. Many good things seem to have
been inheritances from England, and
this is another of them.
When the Roman Catholic religion
became ascendant in England il was
made obligatory that all good Chris
tanS should drink the health of the
Pope after dinner every day, and that
His Holiness health was to be pledged
in a full glass. which was to be drain
ed to the bottom. The toast prescribed
as proper was "au bon pere." but the
Anglo-SaNOn Of those days was not
good French student. and mis- prOnun-
citation was faulty, SO tnat bon pece
rapidly became corr upted to "bu.n!
er, and 50 Al has SurNlN 81 ever since.
Although the significance of the Grafi
and its name have changed. the eff
feet is said to be quite the same as
in those days.
If you make a lucky turn in the
stock market and tell your friends
about ia some one of them VIII DOUBT.
less say. Wei. that's a fea Their in YOU
cap" He knows something OF the va
carries of the quotation board. but H.
Will be a safe bet that he does not kno,
that he is using an expression man
hundred years old. In that vast store
house of everything that is historical
quaint and unusual, the British ma
scum, is manuscript book written b.
one Lansdowne, and describing hi.
travels in Hungary in -159S, at whicI
time that country was almost unknown
to his countrYmen.
Lansdowne says: 1T hath been al
ancient cussusne amongst them that
none should -.ore a fether bat he NH,
had killed a ~ k, TO whom onlie Y.
was lawful TO snew the number Of Ia.
slaine enemyes by the number Of feth-
eTS in his ca ppe.'
1t would seem that the men W no got
the best OF the wheat pit or the stock
market was as much to be decorated "a
he who killed a Turk, for the latte
performance was probably the easier
but II the practice was revived i'm ac-
tuality we'll as in words. il is doubt.
full If the feather market would feel IT,,
effect Of any unusual demand. GU
everyday phrases are interesting Whcr
We come to look into them, and they
are not less applicable TO the strenuou.
life of the present day, considering tina
most of them are the product OF siren
uous lives Of the past-New York Trl