The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-06-18
Just Among Ourselves
p."ios Comment con.id.r.d or lnson.id.r.i.


the utterlng Of little clches 10 examine whether
they be really true and valid. Many of us make Poor
Richard far greater master Of morals and manners
than he has any justified claim TO be. Too many
who praiseful of modernity and who delight
in the latest instrument are smusly content in
realm of mind and morality, with the oldest and
rustiest
Take. for example, the old saying that Where
there is smoke there is fire. This is not even liter
ally true since chemistry has filled the earth with
smoky vapors that nothing to the primal flame
But even If ii were true in the material order II is
not therefore true in the order of human conduct,
that Is in the thoughts, words, purposes, and feel
ings of mankind All best the saying is metaphor,
and,-to quote another old metaphor-every such
figure Of speech walks with limp; that is to say,
IT'S application 10 actual instances is than
hating and imperfect IN accuracy.
How many and many time has the saying
Where there Is smoke there is fire" been used to
Justify SANDER calumny, anger hatred and all ill
will People who know we'll how easily reputation
be ruined by unkindness and idle gossip may
still be thoughtless enough to invoke the saying
basis for uncharsble judgment instead of inves-
tgatng the character and conduct of the unkind
and gosspy people who utter the SANDER
And consider another OF the old sayings THE
burned child shuns the fire" Here again we have
flguratNe language and the figure hats and lmps
truth; II IS IN its metaphorlcal character that II Is
mostly false. Soaring experience does not prevent
the criminal from returning TO crime. "A burning
forehead and parching tongue" do not make the
inebriate shun the particular fire that has burned
him. Even the fiery of gross sin cannot be
garded that the sinner will sin
more. 1t seems, in fact that the individual who is
burned Is often eager TO try the fire another time
There is the saying that Experience keeps
dear school, but fools will learn al other II may
he asked IN all fairness, whether fools wise men
cdn learn al any other school than that of exper-
fence. Certainly, il is possible for man to take adj
Vlce,-however unusual this may be,-and so 10 Shun
the disasters that have befallen the adviser Yet il
cannot be said that the person thus wisely guided
has learned the lesson that the adviser taught He
has been docIle; he has been amenable 10 guidance
But If is safe TO that in his nmost being
he is convinced that he would not have crop
per as the adviser did even had he chosen to dis
regard the advice
Indeed bringing together the adages about the
burned child and the school Of experience We dis
better mode OF expressing the latter saying:
Experience keeps dear school, but people cannot
learn at any other and fools cannot learn at that"
This statement has not the compact and fscile form
Of Poor Richards saying. but il has the distinct
advantage of being true
Alexander Popes often quoted lines
Know then thysef presume not God to scan
The proper study of mankind is man
leave out of account the manifest truth that to
study man IS to study the plan upon which is
made the purpose of his being and the character
of his proper conduct Thus IT appears that man,
10 pursue 'the proper study Of mankind" be
busily engaged IN scanning God We contradict
Popes advice by taking it, And TO be sure il is not
Pope's advice; the Frenehman Pierre Charron said
the same thing over $50 years before Pope
born
In own brisk days we have adages that We
express in phrases rather than m sentences. Consid
er the expressions 'the open mind" democracy"
tolerance academic freedom freedom of
speech" To the unthnking multitude of modern
men these words and phrases suggest great human
ideals that the ideals vague, foggy ill-defined
II defined at all, does not prevent the learned and
the unlearned alike from accepting them ideals,
and from invoking them fundamental principles of
reasonable attitude and conduct,
Add TO this fact the readiness Of modern people
TO condemn anything that is merely called undemo-
cratic or noIerant or the rest No proof is de
manded no evidence is exacted Say merely that
a has not an open mind, and he is instantly
regarded as ''reactionary." numskull, stickn-
thc-mud, an inconsequentisl lug Say that person
Is ntoersnt and you forthwith discredt all he says
or stands for Say that man Is undemocratic and
dark suspicion surrounds him at once Say that a
person opposes any of the varieties of freedom
academic to zoologic-and you label him a kind of
fend IN human form.
OF the older savings, including the many that
express whimsy instead of wisdom, 1t may be said
that their authors went to the extent of formulating
them in Ineligible sentences and probably had
notion of what the sentences meant OF the
modern lerky terms and phrases II only be
said that people utter them invoke them tails
manic formulas in kind of mumbo- Jumbo If the
old saws need to be examined lest they cut awry
the new fetsh-phrases need 10 be looked AT
fully lest they twist minds and morals and do
lTeparable damage to human souls.
Mind YOU, this Is not saying that the modern
phrases have good meaning or that, put into
proper form statements they would not express
valuable truth. II is only saying that their current
use Is bad. For they almost universally used,
not as statements of truth, but labels. And the
labels unintelligibe TO the rank and file as
the symbols on pharmacists bottles and oanisters,
except that when used adversely nearly all Of them
bear the leerlng warning Of the skull and cross
bones.