<p>AS I want wood to build a house,<lb/> I would cut down this tree:<lb/> 'Tis a fine stem, although in truth<lb/> It somewhat crooked be.<lb/> I've sunk this pole, in hopes to bend<lb/> It somewhat straighter by;<lb/> <pb n="uiuc_83931c29eep_fac102"/> Yet fear, though I the trunk e'en with<lb/> A hundred withies tie-<lb/> (It is so stiff in heart and growth,)<lb/> That it will never take<lb/> A better shape, whatever be<lb/> The efforts I may make.<lb/> But while here on the ladder, I <lb/> Some person hear below!-<lb/> Some voice unknown that calls to me,<lb/> Holloa! up there! holloa!<lb/> And somehow (why I know not) I<lb/> Leave off to hear what he<lb/> Has got to say, and this is the<lb/> Discourse he holds to me:<lb/> Eh! man, what art about? wouldst bend<lb/> A full grown tree like this!<lb/> Dost take it for a sapling, eh?-<lb/> Why what's with thee amiss!<lb/> There is no sense in what thou do'st,<lb/> So spare thy labour, friend;<lb/> 'Tis only when the tree is young<lb/> That thou the stem canst bend!<lb/> Go, get thee home, and rather let<lb/> Thy children have thy care:<lb/> The labour that thou here bestow'st,<lb/> Were better given there. <lb/> Those are the trees whose growth once set<lb/> Will give thee most concern;<lb/> And from th'experience of my years,<lb/> This lesson thou may'st learn:<lb/> In tender youth alone, the mind<lb/> To Virtue can be train'd;<lb/> But that once pass'd, its growth and bend<lb/> Are not to be reclaim'd.</p> <p>THE above adage is taken from the collection of Arabic sayings collected and<lb/> translated by the learned Polygot D.Erpenium, who was Professor in the high<lb/> school of Leyden. This saying admonishes all parents and guardians that the years<lb/> <pb n="uiuc_83931c29eep_fac103"/> of childhood only are fitted for instruction, and that therefore a special regard<lb/> should be had to them for that purpose. ''Bend the neck of thy child whilst he<lb/> is yet young, so that he become not stiff-necked,''said the Lord. Many sayings of<lb/> our time, either in word or spirit, and frequently in both, correspond with that divine<lb/> admonition. In allusion hereto, Scaliger in his day, cited in his Collection of Proverbs<lb/> as coincident in meaning the French adage:<lb/> VIEIL arbre mal aisé à redresser.<lb/> Alte Bäume sins böse zu biegen.<lb/> Alte Hunden böss bändig zu machen.<lb/> Old dogs are hard to train.<lb/> ETH moet vroeg krommen dat een goede reep worden sal.<lb/> To make a good rope it must be bent early.<lb/> MEN mag sijn oude schoenen verwerpen; maer niet sijn oude seden.<lb/> A man can throw away his old shoes, but not his old habits.<lb/> GEWOHNTE maeckt eelt.<lb/> Custom makes things hard.<lb/> WAT heeft geleert de jonger man,<lb/> Dat hangt hem al sijn leven an.<lb/> What the young man has learnt sticks to him through life.<lb/> NUTRITURA passa natùra.<lb/> DELLA matina si cognosce il buon giornò.<lb/> L'HAVER cura de putti<lb/> NON è mestiere de tutti.<lb/> TAGYRUI adeth gaiet mischkhiuldur. -Turkish Proverb.<lb/> Id est,<lb/> It is difficult to change customs.<lb/> [Greek]<lb/> ARISTOPH. apud Suidam.<lb/> Id est,<lb/> Erigere durum est, qui cadit juvenis, senem.<lb/> Annosam arborem transplantare. Eodem sensu adagium refertur ab Erasmo.<lb/> Castigar vieja, y espulgar pellon, dos rivancos, son.<lb/> 'TIS Education forms the common mind.<lb/> Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd<lb/> Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not<lb/> depart from it. -Prov.xxii. 6.</p> <pb n="uiuc_83931c29eep_fac104"/> <p>THOU goest about mischiese and still dost feare,<lb/> Least this my light 'gainst thee should witnesse beare;<lb/> So having put me out thou think'st to worke<lb/> Thy will, and yet in secret still to lurke.<lb/> Thou art deceiv'd, the darknesse of this cell<lb/> Containes a light, that sees the lowest hell.<lb/> But thou a Want, canst not perceive this light,<lb/> Neither discerne Sun-shine from cloudy night.<lb/> Then shalt thou see it, when the Deity<lb/> Shall kindle that sparke which in hy breast doth ly<lb/> What e're thou dost, looke to that Light which made<lb/> All Lights, and shines as day in midnight shade.<lb/> FARLIE'S Emblems.</p>

uiuc_83931c29eep_emblem020b

http://hdl.handle.net/10111/EmblemRegistry:E019352

uiuc_83931c29eep

emblem pictura

emblempictura

The Branches May be Trained, but Not the Trunk

uiuc_83931c29eep_emblem021b

UIUC

EMBLEMS

ILL_BOOK

A man is tying a big old tree to a pole to straighten it, like the young trees in the background; another man tells him that this is a useless effort.

uiuc_83931c29eep.xml

uiuc_83931c29eep_fac101

UIUC

EMBLEMS

ILL_BOOK

25G3(+361)

25G3(+363)

31A2512(+931)

33A35

41A343

47D8(ROPE)

47I15(SPADE)

47I7(+57)

47I872(+54)

54BB2(+4)

49A0

86(RAMI CORRECTI RECTIFICANTUR, TRABS MINIME)

86(THE BRANCHES MAY BE TRAINED, BUT NOT THE TRUNK)

<p>THE BRANCHES MAY BE TRAINED , BUT NOT THE TRUNK</p>

uiuc_83931c29eep_pic101.jpg

uiuc_83931c29eep_emblem021