Maxims on Horseback.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 72

Maxims on Horseback.

Several publications on proverbs have lately appeared, but none of them eyre and straye from the- old beaten rut, in which they collect as thick and as dry as dust. Why cannot we have these delicate morsels dished up to use, not. cokl and ungarnishecl. but treated with a little dexterous intellectual cookery? "Devilled proverbs" or "Maxims on horseback" would tickle the mental palate to Rome purpose. As a suggestion in this direction take tho following "proverb in aapio" : That one swift gliding migratory bird Makes torrid aestivation is absurd. Here \vr have the rlaiu fact that .me swallow does not make a summer served up in an appcti.sinc' form. Again, in tho following "proverb a la Rodomontade," tho arofi.-rories lend flavour o a very homely .statement : Observe yon plumed biped fine! I'o effect his captivaticn, Dpposit particles salir.e Upon his termination. It '.t> not difficult to >aUh the 'rick of it with any proverb you like to name : The puerile urchin knows his worth: 'Twas he who gave his parents birth. It would not bo difficult to continue it for 80,000 linos: The filial progeny that's wise Looks beamish in patcn:al cyys. Oi ev:n further: To go direct to domiciles Go indirect and lag on all The lanes that lead yuu rt.ur.cl for miles. Circuitous, diagonal. Ocrasif.mally the basis of the confection is :t Jittle obseuied, but a temporary uncertainty a. tc its real uiture ouly adds tc the

A pint vi wine place in this can;,' A pint of wit allow thia man !Who liveth on the suction plan. And this is our prognosis: The pint of wine tha can will quit And, 10l if you can follow it, tfhe can ia straightway filled with wiS By perfect endosmosia. But, on the whole, it is as simple ac falling off a log: See yonder bellowing bovine boldl Your only safe protection. Lies in taking rapid hold And using cornuflexion. And the style more instructive withal. If you tell a young man nob to look a gift horse in the mouth he gays he has heard all these things before he was born, but if you etrike an attitude of authority and re-< mark : Forbear, O youth of intellectual status 1 Loose that manducatory apparatus! Nor seek to test ihe masticating force Of that fine eleemosynary horse! he will admit the wisdom of your advice*, Thie is a clever version of a good old saw: Teach not your parent's mother to extract The embryo juices of an egg by suction; That good old kdy can tho feat enact Quite irrespective of your kind instruction!. Here are a few morej A pebble in a state of circumlocution acquires not the lichens of moial vegetation. The mendicant once from his indigence freed, And mounted aloft on the generous steed, Down the precipice sure will undoubtedly go, And end his career in the regions below. Persons, the apertures of whose mansions are of vitrified sand, should not project fragments of granite. Desiccate your forage trader the radiance of the empyrean. Without doubt the resetting of the proverba of nations in this style is a thing j that ie sadly needed.