Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1896 — CRISP FORMS OF THOUGHT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CRISP FORMS OF THOUGHT.

SOLOMON AND TUPPER TWISTED TO SUIT A MODERN fRADE. The Wisdom of the Sages and the Wit of the Maeses! Even the Work of the Missionaries, Are Gt-ist in the Mill— Thby Are Poached Upon by Authors and Advertisers, WhetherlSblomon invented all his proverbs or gathered them from many sources with a nicer sense of permanent worth than Mr. Tupper exercised in his later compendium is and ever will be an open question. Solomon’s copyright ran out long before Tupper’s time, and both are now poached upon with impunity by all classes, from authors to advertisers. But, taken by themselves, proverbs well repay careful study. Students of ethnology find in the proverbs of the different races the clearest proofs of their real characteristics, for they are the shrewdest and yet most Intimate expressions bf their daily life. Judged by the comparison of these homely sayings it will be found that all nations are of one kindred, possessing common needs,- common aspirations, and seeking similar reliefs from toil and labor. On the dustiest shelves of. our libraries may be found collections of all the proverbs of the different nations, quite a large proportion of the work having resulted from the interest which missionaries have taken in. their earnest studies of the uncivilized peoples whom they seek to instruct. That the shrewd sayings of the Scotch or the bright hits of the Irish should be carefully collected gites little cause for Surprise; but a collection of Abyssinian proverbs, of those of the Tamil language, of Icelandic lore, of the Sanscrit, South Sea Island, Chinese, and Hottentot Solomons does excite curiosity. The missionaries have found it a pleasant as well aS a profitable task. It delves deep into the idioms of the language, tells with unerring accuracy the mental tendency of the people, and by introducing the foreigner into the inner thought of both home and trade shows him the real life of those who adopt them as everyday expressions. It is impossible to read the well-collated proverbs of the Chinese without, realizing that a home life exists in that flowery kingdom which rivals that of many more civilized countries. No Solomon, no descendant of Abraham,, could eclipse the trade proverbs of the Chinese. They touch on trade with a keenness and thoroughness which proves-them to be masters in that school. The baser life of the Hottentot, the loose morals of the fellah, the indepcrftleht spirit ‘ofrfEF"Bnfoh,"“a"fe“ all crystallized in their national proverbs. In England and many other countries it was formerly very usual for a tradesman to select some proverb as his motto, and thus post his principles plainly over his shop door. It remained, nowever, for an American house to appropriate the proverbs of the world cn masse, and use them for their own advancement. New Yorkers who ride on elevated roads, or people who in less favored localities still jog along in the slow street cars, are familiar with the blue and white proverbs which proclaim the merits of Sapolio to the world. Every omnibus in London and almost every “tram car” in England is similarly adorned. They made their first appearance on the Broadway omnibuses, were gathered outof over 4,000 pages of the world’s collections, and twisted to suit the case. Many of them are beyond easy recognition in their new dress, many are entirely orig-‘ inal, but these are also printed between inverted commas, which lends a glamour of antiquity to them. To-day we are tpld that over 20,000 of these blue cards are displayed in public conveyances carrying over 0,000,000 passengers daily. Condensed thought generally requires padding to make it intelligible to the masses, just as the stomach of the horse must be distended with hay to make the oats digest readily; but With proverbs it is- quite otherwise. Their popularity is only reached because they have passed muster as being clear to every mind. They tell their story with a directness and brevity which pleases the public,, as the dictionary did the old Scotch woman—- “ They air braw stories,” she said, ‘“but unco’ short.” Turned to tell the practical story of Sapolio, they often acquire new Interest. Who reads the advice, “Be patient And you will have patient children,” without an innate respect for the advice which follows, not to fret over house cleaning, but do it easily with Sapolio? And who can repress a smile when the Sapolionic artist pictures the patient father and the impatient twins defying the proverb? But the mother will be back

sooner if she follow the advice. Our familiar '“The pot calls the kettle black” takes a new interest in its Italian form. The pot says to the pan, “Keep off or you’ll smutch me." The universal toil of the world finds expression in the Catalan phrase, “Where wilt thou go, Ox, that thou wilt not plough?” Almost all nations possess a .proverb which declares that “if yon forbid a fool a thing, that he will do,” and with confidence in the good will of the public the advertiser of Sapolio puts it in this form: “Forbid a fool a thing and that he will do.” So we say for variety; “Don’t use Sapolio—but then you’re not a fool.” “A touch of nature which makes al! the world akin” springs out of the quaint thought that “A needle, though naked itself, clothes others.” Who can hear it once and ever see a needle without recalling it? Who fails to recognize the picture it suggests of the aid given to the poor by the poor, and of the help which is everywhere gained from the humblest of assistants? Slang never can be confounded with proverbial phrases. It seems universal, but it is merely a local form used to express a transient but popular idea. Years ago, when ft general rush at hotel keeping resulted in many failures, the slang ran: “He’s a very good man, but he can’t keep a hotel.” All such phrases are local and temporary. They do not survive—indeed, rarely possess merit enough to reach a second year without evident decline in popularity. We have noticed that none of the advertisements of Sapolio make gse of slang, and probably for this reason. Naturally many of the best proverbs

kola cleanliness, and all the original One*,, are framed to that end. “Dirt in the house builds the highway tq beggary, deserves recognition, Respite its origifi. Household sayings, in the sense of fourwalled buildings, full bf furniture, are quite lacking in many Eastern tongues. We believe that no reference to clean housekeeping can be found in the Koran in the Bible, except that of ths woman- who swept the house to find, her lost coin. Shakspeare rather slights the subject, but whether because it was not deemed important in that intellectual but dirty age or because he soyed to-grander things, we will not discuss, but the England of to-day well says of home, “The cleaner ’tisThe cosier ’tis,” and our Ameri-

can. advertiser imptoves tfie opportunity to add that humble homes made brightwith Sapolio are better than tawdry palaces. Alas, for. the thoughtlessness of the man who forgot to ask whether his bride used Sapolio. The Scotch proverb records his case: “Ye hae tied a knot wi* your tongue ye winno loose wi’ your teeth.”