The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-08-09
"WhiIe There's Life There's Hope"
Was Written by Cicero, and Cynical
Old Diogenes It Was Who Told the
World "Habit Is Second Nature"


| Oh of Rome, to the Church Of Corinth
| in the first century. This letter is cx-
tant and is one of the priced docu-
luents of the early church.
81 never put off till tomorrow what
! can do today" was Lord Chester
fields explanation of how he managed
| TO do so much work. Whatever Is
worth doing at all is worth doing WELL
| he wrote later In the famous letters to
| his son.
In some of the expressions we use
| habitually may be crystallized an
epoch of history. Such is the motto of
| the Order of the Garter, "Honi soft qul
NAL pense" c'Shamed be he who
| thinks evil of it,. which was given by
| Edward III. of England. Wishing to
draw the best soldiers in the world TO
| him, he proposed revival of the round
table of King Arthur, holding tour
nament at Windsor castle on New
Years day. 1874 After the contest of
arms the guests We're entertained at
| his expense at round table. Philip,
king of France, was jealous over the
| interest this aroused and forbade his
subjects to attend, at the same time
misrepresenting Edwards motives.
Several years later. when Edward
founded the Order of the Garter, he
chose motto that seemed to chal-
lenge his rival monarch TO think wrong
of it if he dared.
Later English history has not been
laggard In increasing the supply of apt
remarks that have grown into every
day sayings. Lord Eldon, lord chan
cellor of England during the first TWEEN
ty-six years of the nineteenth century,
| continually mispronounccd the name
of Henry Brougham, aftcrward TO be
successor In the chancellor's Office.
Brougham objected to be called Broff-
am, and in this regard Eldon was the
chief offender once. after Brougham
had made an excellent speech, Eldon
by way OF apology pronounced his
name correctly and made proyerb,
New hroOms sweep clean
The same expression occurs fire.
quently TO different people who could
have no knowledge that their thought
had been given utterance before. NO
man is hero to his valet has been
paraphrascd by scores, from Nine du
Cornuel. witty Frenchwoman of the
seventeenth century, to DIR. johnson
and Napoleon. The first record of it,
however. Is found I'm Plutarch. who
states that when HermodotuS address
ed a poem 10 AntigonOus J., king Of
Sparta, hailing him as son of the sun
and a god. the monarch replied, "My
body servant sings me no such song"
1t was Diogenes. the cynic who de-
,lared that habit is second nature"
The phrase circumstances over which
he has no control" was used by the
Duke Of Wellington in n letter con
corning some affairs in which his son
was mixed up and with which he de-
,ined To interfere. Dickens also used
the expression few years later when
he had Micawber write TO David Cop
perfeld. Circumstances beyond my in
ulNluual tonlTuis tlC.
Conspicuous by their absence" has
been used on many occasions in mod
ern oratory. Ii was first used by
Tacitus in relating that in the funeral
procession Of Julia. niece Of Cato sis-
ter Of Brutus, wife Of CassluS. many
Of the images Of the most famous
families In Rome were seen. hut Gas
slus and Brutus shone prc-eminent be
cause their images were not dis
played"
Nothing is certain but death and
taxes" wrote Benjamin Franklin. stat
ing that the constitution of the United
States was in operation and 10 all APP
pcarances would last.
Those who live in glass houses
should not throw stones" was said by
James |. of England when his favor
tie. the Duke of buckingham. com.
planned that mob had broken his
glass windows. which were ut that
time a luxury.
Mind roar p's and q's' Is said To
have been taken from an old French
phrase ~ the time Of Louis XIV A
very low bow was IN fashion. and the
dancing mgster IN instrnctiuc his pa
pills would warn them To hook out s,,r
the position of the feet and the move
men; of the head lest their cuc wigs
b. disarranced The French word f0r
i,ot * pied Mind your pleds and
pueues" sooa came 10 be tr1nspl1nted
into English and abbreviated
Wallace Irwin once complained that
nhen he had hccn invited To- be- funny
al q banquet his real gems 81 wit were
addressed 90 the liack 90 his chauffeur
on the way home. But what's tho dir
fcrencc: Accoriing tn the Latin poet
upheld hy mo,lcru investigation. every
thing YOU cuull ls',~ihiy say his heeu
said before. Anna Bird Stewart In
Minneapolis Journal.