CONTRADICTORY PROVERBS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 20 June 1931, Page 2

CONTRADICTORY PROVERBS

A very wise 111:111 discovered not so long ago that many proverbs were contradictory. This not being an ago when “wise saws and modern instances -earn much respect from youth, the discovery lias been hailed with delight by countless children as a 1 devastating reply to their parents' usage ol the good wolds. Along with tradition, Vielorianism, and a few other things, proverbs have been swept out, to be replaced with epigrams. Successful business men daily state their high positions due to the non-observ-ance of "Look before you leap.” The Air .Ministry and the Weather Clerk with the assistance of Paris, make “Ne'er cast a clout e'er May be out” ridiculous. Soap and modern tailoring has ruined a belief in a "Stitch in time saves nine.” One or two of these pithy sentences upon which our forefathers based so much have survived. “Prevention is better than cure” is a notable example. A page boy discovered a j small lire in a big London hotel. Somebody called the brigade and somebodyl else promptly applied a portable chemi-j cal extinguisher. Six lire engines, two j lire escapes, and about forty firemen nr-1 rived, held up (radio, and had a look, 1 but tile (ire was already out. The damage was trilling. If it. had not been put out,so (piicklv, if there had not been tlioi means lift extinguishing it in the embryo stage, the cost, of lighting it might have run into thousands.