NATURAL WISDOM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 66

NATURAL WISDOM.

Lord Bacon gave it as his opinion that the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation ars to be discovered in its saws ; and William Perm affirmed that its wisdom is discernible in the same. Neither of these high authorities, it will be noticed, defines them as either a measure of civilisation or a standard of education, well knowing that neither of these ingredients is concerned in their production, since some of the wisest sayings ever uttered have emanated from rude and untutored minds. r ~'

Many may not have heard the aphorism that was uttered before a parliamentary committee some years ago by a shrewd member of the labouring class, that "Charity creates much of the misery itrelieves, but does not relieve all the misery it creates." Wholesale philanthropists may regard this in the light of a sophism rather than an aphorism ; but it is nevertheless only too txiie. The Hindu proverb that ''The snail sees nothing but its own shell, and thinks it the greatest palace in the universe," is a salutory reproof to narrow-minded men who have not a thought beyond the sphere of their own vision.

"Sof ly, sof'ly, catch monkey," is a good example of negro proverbial philosophy, a flowery rendering of the Latin " Festina lente " (" Hasten gently ").

The wild, illiterate Zulu has produced several aphorisms, of which a couple of specimens will suffice : Kaliko isele elingalanguziyo erngodini walo i"Tbere is- no toad which does not peep out of its ho>V), by which the native means that each one looks after his own interest. Imbila yaswcla umsila ngokuyalezela ("The rock-rabbit is without a tail on account of having ordered one") arose out of the supposed treatment of the rock-rabbit by the rabbit. The anecdote is that in days of yore the two quadrupeds held a conference to arrange how to supply themselves witli tails, and they agreed that the rabbit should sally forth to procure them. The rabbit consequently journeyed out on the sea of life, and supplied itself with a tail ; but, having got into its own business and interests, completely forgoj, those of the rockrabbit. It .subsequently was so ashamed of its behaviour that it dared not return to the rock-rabbit, which, in consequence, has remained without a tail. By this proverb the £ulu means that we must attend to our own business if we wish it to be worthily done.

Those who. like Sir Hurricane Bustleton, appeal" always to be in a hurry, who invariably conclude their communications "In haste," and who are for ever complaining that they have no time, cannot do better than lay to heart the wise reply of a poor Indian chief to a Xew Yorker who excused himself on the p!<?a of "No time' from the performance of an uncongenial task. "Well," said Red Jacket, "I suppose you have all there is.' Readers who havi digested their "Marcus Aurelius" may itcall the passage, penned some eighteen centuries and a-lialf ago, in which he frlls us that he learnt "from Alexander the platonic not frequently nor without necessity to say to anyone, or to write in a letter, that I have no leisure ; nor continually to excuse the neglect of duties required by our relation to those with whom we live by alleging urgent occupations." The procrastinating proclivities are well illustrated in this little rhyme : "When I get timeI know what I wil' doI'll cut Hip leaves of all my book", And read them through and through. When I pot time — I'll write Fome let'ers Ujpii That I have owed for weeks and vcel:s To many, many men. When I get time — I'll pay those calls I ov.c, And with tho«e bills, those countless bills, I will not be £0 slow. When I get time — I'll regulate my life In sjicli a way that I may get Acouai" t "d with my v.ife. When I get time — Oh, glorious dream of bl.se' A month, a year, ten yeais from now — But I can't finish this — I have no time.

The Maiquis of Lome, v/lien Govemorgeneiul of Canada, was present at some sports held on the ice of the St. Lawrence. Though wrapped in furs, he- felt the cold

' acutely, and was astonishf to see an ancient Indian meandering . around barefooted, enveloped only in a blanket. The Marquis asked the Indian how he mana.gecl to bear such a temperature while so scantily clad. "Why you no cover iace?" inquired the Indian. The Marquis replied that; no one ever did so. and that he was accustomed from birth to have his face naked. "Good," replied the Prairie King ; "me" all face," and walked away. This was not quite so elegant, perhaps, as our maxim, "Use is second nature ;" but to the same effect, and produced without expense of thought or labour of invention. A converted negro slave was taken to church hj fiis master, when the clergyman preached' from the text, "No man can serye two masters," etc. On the master asking. Sambo what he thought of the sermon; the negro replied, "Pa'son man, he no speak de truth. Him say, 'No man can serve two massas.' Dats not true, for Sambo serve you and young massa. And him say again, 'For he will hale de one and lub de oder ;' and dats no true, for I hate you bofe." No sally of a genius this, but a. simple outspoken truth : too outspoken, probably, for poor Sambo's welfare. A shepherd while tending his flock in the wilds of Queensland was accosted by a traveller (not a bushman), who noticed that the animals were running over the wiry grass without taking a bite. "Good-day, shepherd ! Your sheep don't seem to like the grass. Now, if I were a sheep, I would set to work and take a good feed of it." The shepherd, looking him up and down with supreme contempt, replied, "If you were a sheep you wouldn't be such a fool." Dr Radcliff, who many years ago resided in Blooinsbury square, had found it necessary to employ a paviour for some repairs. When the man presented his bill the doctor made a wry face, and sesined to take the prescription with' great reluctance. Afc length, when he had thoroughly examined it, he said, "What an enormous charge is here! You expect to be paid, do you? And for what? Never was a job worse ■ done. You have spoilt my pavement, and then covered it with earth, merely to hide your bungling work. " "Ah, doctor, doctor!" replied the man, "there have been many worse jobs done than this ; but if it were as bad as you say, you well know that mine is not the only bungling work that is covered with earth." 'Oh, you dog!" returned Radcliff ; "you are a wit, I see, and consequently poor. Come into the house, and I'll pay your money." Here is a good specimen of an Irish mendicant's ready wit. When General X". was quartered in Dublin he and his wife were regularly besieged whenever they got into their carriage by an old beggar ■woman who kept her post afc the door, assailing them daily with fresh, importunities and fresh tales of distress. At last the lady's charity and the General's patience .were nearly exhausted ; but their petitioner's wife was still in its pristine vigour. One morning, at the accustomed hour, when the .lady was getting into her carriage, the o'd woman began : "Ah, my lady ! success to your Ladyship and success to your Honor's honour this morning, of all days in the year ; for sure didn't I drame last night that her Ladyship gave me a pound of tay and that your Honor gave me a pound of tobacco!'' "But, my good woman,'' said the General, "do you nob know that dreams always go by the rule of contrary." "Do they so, p!ase your Honor?" rejoined the old woman. "Then it must be your Honor that will give me the tay and her Ladyship that will give me the tobacco."' The General, being of Sterne's opinion that a bon mot is always worth something, even more than a pinch of* snuff, gave the ingenious dreamer tha value of her dream. Of till the tributes paid to the bles&ecl memory of Victoria the Good, none was prettier or more eloquent than that of tho Pondoland chief who, on heanng the sad tidings of his Qreat White Queen having passed away, remarked in true poetic vein : "When I look up into the sky to-night I shall see another star."

These few specimens of unaided wisdom are arranged in no particular order or method, but have been jotted dawn from time to time as met with. Rough and uncut diamonds many of them are; no doubt ; but better so than stones fabricated by art, and polished with wit. Uncouth, awkward, clumsy— call them what we will ; they are also, Jt must be confessed, genuine, unaffected, natural.— Chambers's Journal.