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Saying, and Who First Said Them.
Mandy of our common sayings, so trite
and pithy, are used without the least
idea from whose mouth or pen they first
originated. Probably the works of
Shakspeare furnish us with more of these
familiar maxims than any other writer,
for to him we owe: 'All is not gold that
glitters,' 'Make a virtue of necessity,'
'Screw your courage to the sticking-place' (not point),
'They laugh that win,'
'This is the short and long of it,' 'Comparisons
are odious,' 'As merry as the
day is long,' 'A Daniel come to judgment,'
'Frailty, thy name is woman,' and
a host of others.

Washington Irving gives us 'The Almighty
Dollar,' Thomas Morton queried
long ago 'What will Mrs. Grundy say?'
while Goldsmith answers, 'Ask me no
questions and I'll tell you no fibs.'
Charles C. Pinckney gives 'Millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute.'
'First in war, first in peace, and first in
the hearts of his fellow-citizens' (not
countrymen), appeared in the resolutions
presented to the House of Representatives
in December, 1790, prepared by
Gen. Henry Lee.

From the same we call, 'Make assurance
doubly sure,' 'Christmas comes but
once a year,' 'Count their chickens ere
they are hatched,' and 'Look before you
leap.'

Thomas Tasser, a writer of the sixteenth
century, gives us, 'It's an ill wind
turns no good,' 'Better late than never,'
'Look ere thou leap,' and 'The stone
that is rolling can gather no moss.' 'All
cry and no wool' is found in Butler's
'Hudibras.'

Dryden says: 'None but the brave
deserve the fair.' 'Men are but children
of a larger growth,' and 'Through thick
and thin.' 'No pent-up Utica contracts
our power,' declared Jonathan Sewell.

Dean Swift thought that 'Bread is the
staff of life.' Campbell found that
'Coming events cast their shadows before,'
and ''Tis distance lends enchantment
to the view.' 'A thing of beauty
is a joy forever,' is from Keats. Franklin
said, 'God helps them who help themselves,'
and Lawrwence Sterne comforts
us with the thought, 'God tempers the
wind to the shorn lamb.'

'When Greeks join Greeks then was
the tug of war,' Nathaniel Lee, 1692.

'Of two evils I have chosen the least,'
and 'The end must justify the means,'
are from Matthew Price. We are indebted
to Colley Cibber for the agreeable
intelligence that Richard is himself
again,' Johnson tells us of 'A good
hater,' and Mackintosh in 1791, the
phrase often attributed to John Fandolph,
'Wise and masterly inactivity.'

'Variety's the very spice of life,' and
'Not much the worse for wear,' Cowper.
'Man prososes, but God disposes,'
Thomas a Kempis.

Christopher Marlowe gave forth the
invitaion so often repeated by his brothers
in a less public way. 'Love me little,
love me long.' Edward Coke was of the
opinion that 'A man's house is his castle.'
To Milton we owe 'The paradise
of tools,' 'A wilderness of sweets,' and
'Moping melancholy and moonstruck
madness.'

From Bacon comes 'Knowledge is
power,' and Thomas Southerne remids
us that 'Pity's skin to love.'

Edward Young tells us 'Death loves a
shining mark,' 'A fool at forty is a fool
indeed,' but alas, for his knowledge of
human nature when he tells us 'Man
wants but little, nor that little long.'

Even some of the 'slang' phrases of
the day have a legitimate origin. Putting
your foot in it,' is certainly not a
very elegant mod of expression, but,
according to the 'Asiatic Researches' it is
quite a fine point of law; when the title
to land is disputed in Hindostan, two
holes are dug in the ground and used to
incase a limb of each lawyer (?), and the
one who tired first lost his client's case.
Fancy, if you can, some of our famous
'limbs of the law' ;leading in such a
manner! It is generally the cilent who
'puts his foot in it.'

When things are in disorder they are
often said to be turned topsy-turvy; this
expression is derived from the way in
which turf used for fuel is placed to dry,
the turf being turned downward; and
the expression then means top-side turfway.

Historical.
Benjamin Franklin died April 17,1790.

Postal cards were introduced on June 8, 1
872.

Louisiana was purchased from France
on April 30, 1803.

The first agricultural exhibition was
held at Georgetown, D.C., in 1810.

The only man tried, found guilty, and
executed for treason during the existence
of the United States was William B.
Mumford, in 1862. The execution took
place in New Orleans. under an order of
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.

The word "States: was first officially
used May 15, 1756, when Mr.Archibald
Cary reported to the Virginia convention,
then in session at Williamsburg. the
famous resolution "to declare the united
colonies free and independent 'States.' "

James I, being requested by his old
nurse to make her son "a gentelman,"
answered emphatically: "I'll mak' him a
baronet gin ye like, luckie, but the de'il
himsel' couldna' mak' him a gentleman."
James I was the first to create baronets
(1611).

The earliest known lens is one made of
rock crystal, unearthed by Layard at
Nineveh. This lens, the age of which is to
be measured by thousands of years, now
lies in the British Museum, with its surface
as bright as when. it left the maker's
hands.

Lace neckcloths are small cambric
Geneva bands similar to those worn by
clergymen were common in the reign of
William III and in Queen Anne's time,
but temporarily passed out of fashion in
1735. Soon after the revolution the cravat
recovered its populatiry, and was worn in
the most extravagant manner and shapes.

The grade of admiral was established by
act of Congress, approved July 25, 1866,
and on this date Vice Admiral David
Glasgow Farragut was commissioned admiral.
On the death of Farragut, August
14,1870, Vice Admiral David D. Porter was
the next day commissioned admiral.
With the death of Porter the title of admiral
expired.

The first coins struck for America are
supposed to have been the Sommer Island
shilling and sixpence; the date of coinage,
place and circumstance under which they
were issued are unknown. The Sommer
or Summer Islands are the present Bermudas.
The shilling was called a "HoggePenny,"
composed of copper; size, 19;
weight, 177 grains.

When England was being made into
mincemeat and blocks of real estate by
the Saxons and Danes silver and brass
were in use as currency, but the Normans
subsequently instalied the aristocratic
metal, and left the democratic brass to
take care of itself. Gold was first coined
by Heary III and copper made into British
coin in 1672. Tin was used for coinage
in 1680, and the national farthing was
made of this Cambrian product with a
stud of copper left in the center. In 1690
and 1691 tin half pence were issued in considerable
quantities. The only pure gold
coins issued in English history were those of Henry III.

A New Test of Sobriety.
Shibboleths to test sobriety, or comparative
sobriety, in the case of supposed
drunkards have often benn heard of,
and have generally been looked upon
as jokes for the dinner table or the
smoking room. From a case reported at
the Westminster police court, it appears
that a doctor, examined aas a witness,
has invented a test phrase which
he regards as infallible. It is, "The
artillery extinguished the conflagration
early." This may be very effective,
and it was tried successfully on a
cabman (the defendant), but the doctor
need not have taxed his inventive powers.
There is hte "Peter Piper picked a
peck of pepper," etc,. test, and one or
two more not quite so elaborate. "Biblical
criticism" and "British constitution"
have long been favorite test, but
the best is probably "Mrs Smith's fish
sauce shop." -London News.

The Admiral and the Horn.-
The following spicy lines were written
by a Quaker girl of Southern Maryland
in commemoration of the futile
efforts of a distinguished naval officer
to blow an ordinary fox-horn, and they
were sent to the gallant old star along
with a little tin trumpet:

"A hunter bold, with fox-horn gay,
Oft blew his lungs and brains away,
But not a sound rewards his care,
All silent hanges the ambient air:
In many a battle, many a fray,
This gallant tar had won the day;
He ne'er had hauled his colors down
To man, or for, or deer, or hound.
One only thing he could not do,
He could not wind the horn halloo;
And every fox the country through
Ran laughing home when this they
knew;
But here's a horn, oh! admiral rare,
Will blow itself with every air,
And oft may make the welkin ring,
'Mid woods and dells of Sandy Spring"

THE WORLD'S GREATEST MEN
CONTEST.
AWARD OF PRIZES.

THE FIRST PRIZE has been awarded to W.H.
Allderdice, 1804 G street, N.W., Washington, D.C., for
the following answer: 1, Moses; 2 Buddah; 3, Alexander
the Great; 4, Julius Cæsar; 5, Mohammed; 6, Charlemagne;
7, Christopher Columbus; 8, Martin Luther; 9, Shakespear;
10, Issac Newton, 11, George Washington; 12,
Napoleon Bonaparte.

THE SECOND PRIZE has been awarded to C. Mundelle,
No. 4 School Building, Indianapolis, Ind., for the
following answer: 1, Aristotle; 2, Confucius; 3, Alexander
the Great; 4, Julius Cæsar; 5, Hannibal; 6, Mohammed; 7,
Charlemagne; 8, Christopher Columbus; 9, Shakespear;
20, James Watt; 11, George Wshington; 12, Napoleon
Bonaparte.

THE THIRD PRIZE has been awarded to Jack
Hacker, 710 Chruch street, Lynchburg, Va., for the following
answer: 1, Solomon; 2, Confucius; 3, Buddha; 4,
Alexander the Great; 5. Julius Cæsar; 6, Mohammed; 7,
Charlemagne; 8, Christopher Columbus; 9, Shakespeare;
10, Peter the Great; 11, George Wshington; 12, Napoleon
Bonaparte.