"Now," sais I, "all this came from the accident of my havin' saved a
child's life one day. I owe my 'wise saws' to a similar accident. My
old master and friend, that you have read of in my books, Mr Hopewell,
was chock full of them. He used to call them wisdom boiled down to an
essence, concretes, and I don't know what all. He had a book full of
English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and above all, Bible ones.
Well, he used to make me learn them by heart for lessons, till I was
fairly sick and tired to death of 'em.
"'Minister,' sais I, one day, 'what under the sun is the use of them
old, musty, fusty proverbs. A boy might as well wear his father's
boots, and ride in his long stirrups, as talk in maxims, it would only
set other boys a laughin' at him.'
"'Sam,' sais he, 'you don't understand them now, and you don't
understand your Latin grammar, tho' you can say them both off by
heart. But you will see the value of one when you come to know the
world, and the other, when you come to know the language. The latter
will make you a good scholar, and the former a wise man.'
"Minister was right, Doctor. As I came to read the book of life, I
soon began to understand, appreciate, and apply my proverbs. Maxims
are deductions ready drawn, and better expressed than I could do them,
to save my soul alive. Now I have larned to make them myself. I have
acquired the habit, as my brother the lawyer sais, 'of extracting the
principle from cases.
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