AS I want wood to build a house,
I would cut down this tree:
'Tis a fine stem, although in truth
It somewhat crooked be.
I've sunk this pole, in hopes to bend
It somewhat straighter by;
A hundred withies tie-
(It is so stiff in heart and growth,)
That it will never take
A better shape, whatever be
The efforts I may make.
But while here on the ladder, I
Some person hear below!-
Some voice unknown that calls to me,
Holloa! up there! holloa!
And somehow (why I know not) I
Leave off to hear what he
Has got to say, and this is the
Discourse he holds to me:
Eh! man, what art about? wouldst bend
A full grown tree like this!
Dost take it for a sapling, eh?-
Why what's with thee amiss!
There is no sense in what thou do'st,
So spare thy labour, friend;
'Tis only when the tree is young
That thou the stem canst bend!
Go, get thee home, and rather let
Thy children have thy care:
The labour that thou here bestow'st,
Were better given there.
Those are the trees whose growth once set
Will give thee most concern;
And from th'experience of my years,
This lesson thou may'st learn:
In tender youth alone, the mind
To Virtue can be train'd;
But that once pass'd, its growth and bend
Are not to be reclaim'd.
THE above adage is taken from the collection of Arabic sayings collected and
translated by the learned Polygot D.Erpenium, who was Professor in the high
school of Leyden. This saying admonishes all parents and guardians that the years
should be had to them for that purpose. ''Bend the neck of thy child whilst he
is yet young, so that he become not stiff-necked,''said the Lord. Many sayings of
our time, either in word or spirit, and frequently in both, correspond with that divine
admonition. In allusion hereto, Scaliger in his day, cited in his Collection of Proverbs
as coincident in meaning the French adage:
VIEIL arbre mal aisé à redresser.
Alte Bäume sins böse zu biegen.
Alte Hunden böss bändig zu machen.
Old dogs are hard to train.
ETH moet vroeg krommen dat een goede reep worden sal.
To make a good rope it must be bent early.
MEN mag sijn oude schoenen verwerpen; maer niet sijn oude seden.
A man can throw away his old shoes, but not his old habits.
GEWOHNTE maeckt eelt.
Custom makes things hard.
WAT heeft geleert de jonger man,
Dat hangt hem al sijn leven an.
What the young man has learnt sticks to him through life.
NUTRITURA passa natùra.
DELLA matina si cognosce il buon giornò.
L'HAVER cura de putti
NON è mestiere de tutti.
TAGYRUI adeth gaiet mischkhiuldur. -Turkish Proverb.
Id est,
It is difficult to change customs.
[Greek]
ARISTOPH. apud Suidam.
Id est,
Erigere durum est, qui cadit juvenis, senem.
Annosam arborem transplantare. Eodem sensu adagium refertur ab Erasmo.
Castigar vieja, y espulgar pellon, dos rivancos, son.
'TIS Education forms the common mind.
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it. -Prov.xxii. 6.
THOU goest about mischiese and still dost feare,
Least this my light 'gainst thee should witnesse beare;
So having put me out thou think'st to worke
Thy will, and yet in secret still to lurke.
Thou art deceiv'd, the darknesse of this cell
Containes a light, that sees the lowest hell.
But thou a Want, canst not perceive this light,
Neither discerne Sun-shine from cloudy night.
Then shalt thou see it, when the Deity
Shall kindle that sparke which in hy breast doth ly
What e're thou dost, looke to that Light which made
All Lights, and shines as day in midnight shade.
FARLIE'S Emblems.
THE BRANCHES MAY BE TRAINED , BUT NOT THE TRUNK
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