New-York tribune., 1916-02-19
SAYINGS OF THE WISE
Proverbial Wisdom and Paradox
Through the Ages.

CURrOsITIEs IN PROVERBS. A Collection O;
Unusual Adases. MaHims. Aihorisins lhiasrs anu
asd ana arranged by Dwight Edwafds Marvin.
i5mo %. A.. rs G runsm's Sons
Here is a collection Of over 1000
folk sayings from more than seventy
languages and dialects, and from many
centuries, accompanied by readable
Introductory essay, which is packed
with information and reflection, yet
popular in style, as paper dealing
with proverbs should be. Their Wis
dom is of this world and its concerns
mostly, the expression Of worldly eX-
perience. Mr.. Marvin essays no new
definition. Lord Russell's "the wisdom
of the many and the wit Of one is not
likely ever TO be improved upon. But
when Mr.. Marvin. having CLEANED
Greek. Roman and Hebrew antiquity.
Africa. Asia and Europe, past and
uresent. returns home with the obser-
walton that we Americans have few
proverbs Of our own. and that those
now in use among US are from other
countries, one raises his voice in pro-
test and points to Poor Richards Al
n.anack. 10 Yankee wit and common
sense, and to the sphoristic quality OF
much Of our slang.
And speaking Of almanacs, we nave
known that Shakespeare is full OF quo
tations from them ever since the
farmer went to see Hamlet The
Bible is full of the wisdom Of many
and the wit Of one-full of quotations.
that is. Of the proverbs Of its writers
contemporaries. II has, moreover, sug-
gested wealth OF proverbiai lore 10
the non-Christian peoples, especially
the Mahometans, even as lt has hor-
rowed Itself freely from Egypt, India,
Persia, Babylonia and Greece. short
ness, sense. salt this rs another
definition, popularity being, Of course,
assumed The rule OF shOrtness Is
generally observed; the sense varies
tamong the "curiosities" here brought
together there arc many obscurites and
more contradictiOns), and the salt oc-
casionaliy is bitter. France is often
cynical in its proverbial wisdom, but 1t
also has the beau 0este. Spain omits
the Gallo fanfaronade, and gives
more stateliness to its chivalrOus saws;
Italy embalms more than touch
of the period of Macchiavell in
its provorbal wisdom. Dutch and
Scotch are canny, but love the humor-
Gus turn. The Russians are grim, the
3ulgarians pessimistic: "God IS not
sinless: lie created the world" "lf
man is doomed to live medicine Will
be found always" "If misfortune has
not found you, wait moment; you will
and it," India is wise with age, poetic
in its imagery; Japan has a light
touch. China is dignihed and practical.
There are weather saws. of which our
I Weather Bureau has made a collection
/ 70 pu. the stamp Of its scientific ap-
/ proval upon the correctness OF many
Of them. There are animal proverbs
/ proverbs of seasons and festivals and
proverbs of superstition, of historic in
cidents and curious objects-of half
penny tails" "grunting horses" bare
Foot geese" and the like.
Proverbs based upon historic Incl
dents often require Interpretation. The
+ English, "lf they come. they come not;
# they come not, they come" for in
stance This means that in the good
old DAYS Of the border raiders the cows
re,ulned home Of their own volitiOn
from the common pasture al night un-
less intercepted by the borderers.
Therefore. IL the cows came home, the
raiders were not near, and vice versa.
The seeming obscurity Of a native West
African proverb-"A feast uncovers a
Europeans wooden leg" is explained by
the fact that feast leads TO drunken
ness, and. to quote the seventeenth-cen-
tury Dutch sphorist Cats, "When the
wine is in the man. then is the wisdom
ln the can" The Japanese have II
that AT the first cup man drinks wine;
at the second. wine drinks wine; at the
third, wine drinks man" Which re