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Show LexNont Cosiv tyeil iy ";l"a;je on . isic E'air Kei. J'orTiiK Disi'ATCH: Are proverbs the correct expression uf the wisdom of mankind that has Ki'iia on Mtnuiiulnthig since the beginning begin-ning ol' Uio world? The preface to bofciis in which they are cfiilated and explained teli us so; but is their evidence evi-dence suiiicient: The question is an important one, lor u these pregnant st a tehees, these fossils of thought, are to be leceived as gospel truth, then woman is and lias been since time began be-gan ;tu exceedingly equivocal character. charac-ter. According to the proverb writers, woman has always been the same imperfect im-perfect being, offering her youthful I' rail ties, her wifely delinquencies and the weaknesses of her old age with equal impartiality to the tongue or pen of the satirists, who were either the authors of the proverbs or the well from which the latter drew their inspiration. in-spiration. She has not only been the same in all ages, but she is still, especially espec-ially after age has ripened her virtues and matured her faults, the same in all countries of the world, pagan or civilized. It is the acidulated temper that is the touchstone and the proof, for no matter where you go in Japan, China, Tonquin, Kgypt, or in the lish markets of London: Paris. Deri in. Vienna, Home, you see them scolding at one another, apparently in the same dialect, using the same gestures, seemingly seem-ingly having the same causes of complaint, com-plaint, and surrounded by precisely the same crowds of men of all ages urging them on. 'J he pleasure that men take in the verbal warfare of old women is mi 1 iinr--vnvi! oml linivpreal tl-it if- i strange no one ever made a proiovb about it, which shows that these wiseacres, wise-acres, with all their skill in seizing on salient points of character, sometimes miss golden opportunities. Proverbs usually iind women most vulnerable ,:, maidens or as wive.. As mothers " cy touch them iiditlv. and as si:r ..i. r; relation ihat lmtdii-s p-tiilcv- ; iuid hjieJity, not aL all. '. It is a curious fact that men, as men, have rarely been embalmed in proverbs. The men, proverbial philosophers treat them simply as "men,"' that is as the human race, including botit sexes and all ager. There are a few saws that satirize the lollies of youth meaning voting men but thfy are charitv itself :i fnmii-.-.i-n,! n-itli ?. 1 let illi.t- 1 .i ft ness of those that relate to women. Proverbs must have long preceded authentic, history, ilen in oriental countries in the first ages of the world were really lords and masters, and they talked or '.' rote freely of the weaknesses of the other sex, while the women, being in a state of slavery and hardlv CllI.l..i-O.l 0 ,..! o t-r,,,t .-oj'J'O"-"1 HI uun, ci ouiu, VClLclllJiy nut daring to say it was their own, never ventured to defend themselves or make ::nv Vol ilv vli:i twr-r A e unrm nc lliovo was a written lamruasre. the traditional proverbs that had existed for many ages setting forth the faults and vices of women began to be classilied into a sort of literary department of it. The Hebrew mythology was first impressed with woman's spirit of curiosity, which it alleges to have caused the fall of creaieu oeings irom tneir primitive purity. Later on the sacred writers began to satirize woman's extravagance, extrava-gance, as shfi'.Tn in her love of dress and ornament, and her talent for objurgation, ob-jurgation, as in the following: "It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman," and others setting forth that a dinner of herbs and contentment therewith waa ) letter than life with a brawling woatan. no matter how magnificent the mansion. The Chinese and Japanese have found the same faults in women. A Japanese proverb says of a woman given to drets, that she puts her lius-i;tnd lius-i;tnd on her back that is, his fortune. There is another, hinting at tho foibles of literary women, to the effect that when a woman wishes to seem intelli gent sue ians to sen uer ox, meaning that like a creeping crone at market, she neglects her duties. Thete are others, touching on the more serious faults of the sex, that are too gross for repel ii ion. There are said to be precisely GftOold French proveibs. most of them dating back over oOO years. From these, it appears mat tit girl or young woman ha since the Dirk Ages been looked at in Francf- from pesnimi.rtic standpoint. stand-point. Girls were not loved in those days. There was a favorite saying! thai they were onlv born t- enrich j other families that is, bv conveying me patrimony as a dower to their 1ms-iiand. 1ms-iiand. The perplexity of a ma:i who is too ir.iicli a fatli.-r is expressed in the following: -Tlitj man who has too many girl to look afu-r. should possess the insiinetof a shepherd's dog.'1 which j finds its echo in the English" pn-wrb. 'iarrv your sons when you will, your daughters '.ieit yoti can," The cad-ding cad-ding disposition of young women h;a always been a canse of reproach. So we find in the collection such sayings asliies, wlpch seem as fresh as if just written: "Girls too much in the street are toon lost.'" 'Gir!s who love the w n low (or the sidewalk) never make good housekeepers.'" "A girl who is too much seen cos!. dear."' Akin to these are the three that folios: " The idle girl thinks of evil," an idp.t found in all langnases; '"Girls and glass windows win-dows are always in danger," and this, embodying a general seiitiiuejjt which is rarely found 'succinctly expressed, "A girl without fear is good for nothing." The faults of girls and youn women are oltener the result of" inexperience titan of a vicious disposition. The prorerbialists find the foibles and frailties of a woman to whose character charac-ter time should have taught the value of goodness and the necessity of discretion dis-cretion unpardonable. Her character has become complex, and she is regarded re-garded as foreyer re;.dy to Mtppieinent Iter natural fascinations with an extraordinary ex-traordinary talent for deceit. "The eve of a woman i i a spider,'' '-Woman is always weeping," "A woman's imHwiMii ' nr i liitoli ifT nil iri'ian i I -" 1 "Ii I '"" '" weeping isth.it of the crocodile.'' '"A woman can mourn, whine, be sick or well whenever she p'.east s," "A vroiu: n sud an uncut ::;eiou roiproblsui,;"a:' some of the i ii tiis iu which ihtse old French misanthrop-ja (it is to be taken for granted that the yov.ng are nev'ctr pioverb-maktis) liave clothed this thought. The French of (hs Llidd Ages had the notion that has prevailed m iius-sia iius-sia till a recent, date, that a wife neBd-cd neBd-cd beating, or that she even thought her husband's Isve for her ge '-ting cold unless he administered personal chastisement chas-tisement at legist once a day. "'A woman luvts to be beaten." '"Beat our wife and he wili amend," "A horse, whether good or bad, needs the whip; .so a wife, good or bad, requires the slick."' In these, da) s a husband who labors under the delusion that his wife needs the stick is thought by the general public to merit tha whipping whip-ping .post. This is, perhaps, the only case where the proverbial idea respecting re-specting a man's relation to his wife has entirely changed. That regarding women of learning getting out of their sphere has ben modified, but the point of the satire remains. The Flench of 300 years ao said: '"The woman who speaks Latin never comes to a good end,"' and also, "It is well to get rid of the woman that always talks like a man and the pullet that crows like acock." In both of these there is a suggestion of the English proverb, "Whistling girls and crowing hens."' Talleyrand did not care for learned women, and his terse remark, "Thdre is nothing so reposeful as a stupid woman," illustrates the perti-nacy perti-nacy of the idea r.hich is latent in the lower intellectual strata of the present generation. uiever women i;te Madame de Stael have appreciated the domestic freedom resulting from the possession of a spouse of mediocre ability. The following proverbs, indiscriminately indiscrim-inately quoted, will give a general conception con-ception of the manner in which the French judged women and wives three or four hundred years ago: "Xttvtr tell a woman what you wish to conceal;" "Never show a woman what you do not intend to give her;" 'Tie who has a wife has a quarrel on his hands;" "He who has a w ife to keep has never a day to himself;" "God shows his love for a man when he takes from him his wife;" "The greatest injury one man can do to another is to give him his daughter in marriage;"- "Love mires the youmr and drowns the old," and this, which seems to have 'inspired a familiar passage in Shakespeare: "Women are sanns at cnurcii, angels in the street, magpies at their door?, goats in the gaiden and devils in their houses." ! ! English and Scotch proverbs express 'similar ideas, but are usually more charitable. Tha few that English books of proveibs see tit to classify as American sre either kindly or mildly uuiu:;u. nhe itt.s: omen love tneir husbands, but worship their bonnets." to which no woman can object; or. this: "Mairyii'g for love is risky, but God smiles on it;"' or, this again, whh j.; Lo the point, but still not 1 :uer: "A weia.; ''an't keep a secret. im c let any one u-0 keep it." The following the iirst from thcEjiirliih-! thcEjiirliih-! the seeoud-ftnri trrinr'ouTtlie Scotch ''are more bitter: "Duildingand marry- ! ing are great masters." ".Death ye mav j escape, but marriage never." " ' winna mak a toil o' a pleasure,' quo' the man when he buried bis wife.-' The English proverb, "As great a pity to sec a woman weep as to see a goose go uarcioot. illustrates tne scepticism scepti-cism th-U has existed in ail ages and nations regarding the sincerity of the tears of woman. English proverbs relating re-lating to woman's inconsistency are not wanting, but those treating of their infidelity to the marriage vow not numerous. All the northern nations na-tions have a keen sense of woman's weakness, but maintaining a loftier ideal, they prefer to rather ignore her incidental vices. This is the lesMn conveyed by proverbs. Fklix Antoxitts. Pkovo, Utah, Jan. 22, 1801. |