Proverb Lore Part 8

How expressive is "Res in cardine est." The matter is on the hinge, it must soon now be settled one way or the other, for, as another proverb hath it, "A door must be open or shut"--there can here be no middle course of procrastination and uncertainty. How good, again, the oft-quoted "Qui cito dat bis dat"--"He giveth twice that giveth in a trice," as an old English version rhymingly renders it, or the "Quot homines tot sententiae." "I see wel the olde proverbe is true," quoth Gascoigne in his "Gla.s.se of Government," which saith, "So many men so many mindes." The French reading is "Autant d'hommes, autant d'avis."

Our old English proverb about the difficulty of getting blood out of a stone is paralleled in the "Aquam a pumice postulare" of ancient Rome, and the saw, "Extremis, ut dicitur, digitis attingere"--to touch, so to speak, with the tips of the fingers--is of special interest to us, as it will be recalled that it is quoted in the New Testament, and applied to the Pharisees who laid on others burdens that they themselves would not touch with one of their fingers.

Our adage, "Opportunity makes the thief," is but the old Roman "Occasio facet furem."

The brief "Latum unguem" is expressive of those who cavil and split hairs[95:A] over trifles, when not the breadth of a nail of difference exists between them, and yet sharp contention is stirred up.

It is needless to dwell at any length on these proverbs of ancient Rome.

Their character and tone of thought are very English, and therefore many of them we shall find incorporated in English guise in our midst, while others find a place in our literature in their original setting. Amongst these latter we may name, by way of ill.u.s.tration, "Ab ovo," "Ad captandum vulgus," "Dum vivimus vivamus," "Ex cathedra," "Facilis est descensus Averni," "Humanum est errare," "De mortuis nil nisi bonum,"

"Carpe diem," "Argumentum ad hominem," "Ars est celare artem," "Pet.i.tio principii," "Per fas et nefas," "Ne sutor ultra crepidam," "Vox populi vox Dei," and "Festine lente."[95:B]

While many of the proverbs of Scotland are identical in significance with our own, and only vary from them by some slight dialectic influence, there are not a few that are the special possession of the Scottish people. These have a very distinct individuality. There is rarely much grace or tenderness in them, but they contain abundant common-sense. There is scarcely one that is pointless, while in most the point is driven home mercilessly. As maxims of prudence and worldly morality they are admirable, and have a certain roughness of expression that is often taking. They are distinctly canny, and not uncommonly have a strong touch of saturnine humour.

Many examples are easily recognisable as identical in spirit with the parallel English adages, the slight differences of setting giving them an added interest. One gets so used to things when always presented to us the same way that their value gets dulled, and a new reading then comes very opportunely. The Scottish version, "A bird in the hand is worth twa fleeing bye"[96:A] is, we think, a good example of this. The leading idea in both this and the English declaration that "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is the greater value of a small certainty than a larger possibility; but, while the twittering of the free birds in the bush may be provoking, there is at least the possibility of their capture, while the Scottish version gives a still greater value to our possession, seeing that even as we grasp it the possibility of increasing our store is rapidly pa.s.sing away. In a collection, gathered together in 1586, we find "It is better to haif ane brede in hand nor twa in the wood fleande."

Other examples of this practical ident.i.ty are these: "Before you choose a friend eat a peck o' saut wi' him"; "It's no easy to straucht in the oak the crook that grew in the sapling." The "sour grapes" of our English proverb are at once suggested in this northern version: "Soor plooms, quo' the tod, when he couldna' climb the tree"; "Ill weeds wax weel."

The value of this change of diction as an aid to appreciation is also felt still more when it arises from some little antiquity. Our most familiar adages, for instance, seem to possess an added charm when we find them embedded in the quaint English of the poems of Chaucer and others of our earlier writers, and in like manner many of the proverbs given in this collection of the year 1586 have a special interest. The mere setting is a very secondary point, though not without importance, since we readily see that what we need is, in the first and foremost place, the sterling truth, and then this truth enhanced in value by the happy way it is presented to our notice. The following extracts from this collection, gathered together over three centuries ago, will be of interest:--"The fische bred in durtie pooles will taiste of mude,"

"Whane the sunne schyneth the lyt of the starres ar not seene," "All the praise of wertew consisteth in doing," "Wit is the better gif it be the dearer bocht," "The foull taide hath a faire stoine in his hede," "The sweite kirnell lyeth in the harde sch.e.l.l," "The gla.s.s anes crazed will wt the leist clap be crackt," "The fairest silke is soonest soylede,"

"He quhilk walde gather frwite sould plant treis," "Bargaines maid in speid are comonlie repented at leasure," "Thair is no smoke but quhair thair is sum fyre," "In grettest charge ar grettest cares," "A kyndome is more esilie gotten than keipit," "Quhen the sone schyneth the cloudis wanish away," "The fyne golde must be purified in the flamyng fyre,"

"Greiwous woundes must have smarting plasters," "Many thingis happen betwene the cupe and the lyp,"[98:A] "Thair is no clayth so fine bot mothes will eit it," "He that lepeth or he looke may hap to leip in the brook."

Scottish proverbs, despite the a.s.sertion that the only way to get a joke into a Scotchman's head is by a surgical operation, have a strong vein of humour in them--a feature that is much more characteristic of them than of those of any other nationality the wide world over. What could be happier than this caution to those whose presence is not desired: "A weel-bred dog goes out when he sees them going to kick him out!"

"They're keen o' company that tak' the dog on their back," "Friends are like fiddle-strings, they maunna be screwed ower tight."

The national shrewdness and mother-wit is naturally reflected in the national proverb-lore. A very quaint example of this is seen in the warning that "Ye'll no sell your hens on a rainy day." Drenched and wretched-looking, no one will look at them; it is not at all making the best of things. How excellent is this hint against avarice: "Greed is envy's auldest brither, scraggy wark they mak thegither";[98:B] or this: "Ne'er let your gear o'ergang you"; or this: "A greedy e'e ne'er got a gude pennyworth."

How shrewd such adages as: "Changes are lightsome and fools like them"; "He that gets gear before he gets wit is but a short time master of it"; "He is no the fool that the fool is, but he that with the fool deals"; "Oft counting keeps friends lang thegither," the English equivalent being, "Short reckonings make long friends"; "A wise man gets learning fra' them that hae nane i' their ain"; "Better a gude fame than a gude face"; "He that seeks motes gets motes";[99:A] "Ill payers are aye gude cravers"; "He speaks in his drink what he thinks in his drouth."

Prosperous people can afford to listen to envious remarks, for "A fu'

sack can bear a clout in the side," and be never the worse for it.

There is a sharp touch of sarcasm in many of these northern adages: "The deil's journeyman ne'er wants wark." How true to life the feeling, yet how deftly pointed the satire, "They are aye gude that are far awa," or this very similar utterance, "They're no a' saints that get the name o't." A valuable lesson, too, to people consumed with a sense of their own importance is this: "The king lies doun, but the world runs round."

The point becomes sharper yet in the statement that a "Green turf is a gude mother-in-law"--that is to say, this particular member of the family is best in the churchyard.

An old English proverb says that "Almost and very nigh save many a lie"; but the Scotch say, "Amaist and very near hae aye been great liars." The two dicta are in direct opposition, yet both may be accepted.

The power of money to make money is very picturesquely expressed by "Put twa pennies in a purse and they'll creep thegither." Down south we say that "Experience is a dear school, but fools will learn in no other"; but the Scottish method is wiser, if practicable, though there is a touch of selfishness in it: "Better learn frae your neebor's skaith (misfortune) than frae your ain."

It is very true that "His you are whom you serve,"[99:B] and "They that work i' the mill maun wear the livery." How full, too, of wise teaching: "When you dance ken who you tak' by the hand," and realise what the a.s.sociation involves. The mighty power of influence, and the responsibility that rests on us for our actions, the impossibility of arresting the ever-widening circle is well seen in the hint: "If the laird slight the lady sae will the kitchen boy." The saying, "Ye hae gude manners, but ye dinna bear them about wi' ye," is a very delicate way of saving the _amour propre_ of the reproved while indicating evident shortcomings. How quaintly picturesque the adage, again, "Like a chip amang parritch, little gude, little ill," to describe some wholly immaterial thing.

The proverbs of the three great Latin races--French, Italian, and Spanish--are naturally very similar, and are practically interchangeable, all having sprung from the same stock, and thrown into one great store-house. We cannot too distinctly bear in mind that, because a proverb greets us in French, or Italian, or Danish, we must not at once cla.s.s it as a French, an Italian, or a Danish utterance alone. The inner idea is probably cosmopolitan, and its outer garb is of very little importance; yet, as we have already said, the idiosyncrasy of each people affects their borrowing from the common store, and greatly influences any additions they may make. Instead, therefore, of cla.s.sifying certain proverbs as French or German, which ordinarily they are not, we should really think of such a gathering as merely French or German individualism, selecting to taste from the general h.o.a.rd. An old writer says: "The Spanish and Italian proverbs are counted the most Curious and Significant--the first are remarkable for Gravity and fine Instruction, the Latter for Beauty and Elegance, tho' they are a little tinctured with Levity and have too much of the Amour. This last Variety is the Imperfection of many of the French, tho' otherwise they are very Fine and Bright, and solemnly Moral as well as Facetious and Pleasant."

This verdict, though somewhat quaintly worded, is a very discriminating and just one: we should be inclined to add to it in the case of the typically French proverbs a rather characteristic touch of conceit and gasconade. The Frenchman ordinarily studies effect a good deal.

Despite a certain unpleasant sneering at women, as in the proverb, "A deaf husband and a blind wife make the best couple," and others that affect to hold feminine virtue, constancy, truthfulness and the like in poor esteem, the Frenchman appears to preserve a perennial spring of affection for his mother and a fervent belief in its reciprocity on her part. Hence, in all proverb-lore, dramatic representation, poetry, oratory, this special relations.h.i.+p is a sacred one, and we get in an arid desert of cynicism so sweet an oasis as, "Tendresse maternelle toujours se renouvelle."

Such proverbs in common use in France as "A cheval donne il ne faut point regarder a la bouche," "Les murailles ont des oreilles," "Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coute," "Il ne faut pas parler de corde dans la maison d'un pendu," are but cosmopolitans in French garb. In England we find that "A bad workman finds fault with his tools," but in France this is softened down a little and becomes, "Mechant ouvrier jamais ne trouvera bons outils." Our picturesque declaration that it is sometimes advisable to "Throw away a sprat to catch a herring," loses somewhat in "Il faut hazarder un pet.i.t poisson pour prendre un grand." The Gallic "A beau jour beau retour," is a very pleasant variant of our saying, "One good turn deserves another." There is in the English version a somewhat unpleasant suggestion of barter and bargain in this exchange of help, "Nothing for nothing, and not much for a half-penny."[101:A] On the other hand, our "Diamond cut diamond" is pleasanter in expression than the cruder "Ruse contre ruse."

We have already seen how an English playwright once wrote a comedy in which he introduced English proverbs _ad nauseam_, and we find, in like manner, in France, a French author, Adrien de Montluc, writing in the year 1615 or thereabouts, a play called the "Comedie des Proverbes,"

where we find strung together dialogue-wise all the most familiar adages then current in France.[102:A]

The proverbs of Spain are very numerous, and are often distinguished by a stately sententiousness, much thoughtfulness, a strong sense of chivalry and honour, and very frequently, with these good qualities, a very happy dash of humour or irony. Ford declares that this abounding proverb-lore "gives the Spaniard his sententious dogmatical admixture of humour, truism, twaddle, and common-sense." A proverb aptly introduced is a decisive argument, and is always greeted with approval by high and low, an essentially national characteristic. It will be recalled how Sancho Panza has an adage for every emergency. The Don uses his own words, being a man of fine fancy and good breeding, to express his own ideas, but the vocabulary of his Squire is almost entirely composed of the well-nigh inexhaustible proverbs of his country. The Arabs, whose language is rich in such wisdom, doubtless furnished numerous contributions to this very marked feature of the national literature.

Many of the Spanish proverbs are of very great antiquity. One interesting example to the historian is connected with an incident that happened at the beginning of the twelfth century. It is very rarely that one can trace the actual birth of a proverb, but in the present example, "Laws go where kings please to make them," the origin is known.

The Church of Spain was in these early days greatly disturbed by a contest as to whether the Roman or the Gothic liturgy should be adopted, and at last the king, Alfonso VI., gave orders for a decisive test and definite settlement. A fire was lighted and duly blessed by the Archbishop, and then a copy of each of these liturgies was dropped into it, it being decided that whichever escaped destruction should be recognised as the true rite. The Gothic text emerged unconsumed from this fiery test, but the king, displeased at the way things had gone, tossed it back again into the fire, and thus arose the proverb, "Alla van leyes adonde quieren reyes." Many proverbs again will be found in the "Chronica General," one of the oldest Spanish books.

The Marquis of Santillana collected some 700 proverbs--"such," he says, "as the old women were wont to use in their chimney-corners." These were published in the year 1508. The "Cartas" of Blasco de Garay appeared soon after this, and went through many editions. The author was one of the cathedral staff at Toledo, and his book was thrown into epistolary form, almost every sentence being a popular adage. The "cartas"

concluded with a devout prayer that his labours might tend to edification.

In the year 1549 we have an alphabetical collection of over 4000 adages compiled by Valles, while a famous scholar and professor at the University of Salamanca, Hernan Nunez de Guzman, acc.u.mulated over 6000.

These were published in 1555, by a brother professor, two years after the death of Nunez. While acting as literary executor he somewhat ungraciously declared that respect for his friend and not for the dignity of the task was his motive. In 1568, Mal Lara selected from the compilation of Nunez 1000 of the best examples, added some explanatory or appreciative comments to each, and sent them out into the world under the t.i.tle "The Philosophy of the Common People."

Caesar Oudin published in Paris in 1608 the "Refranes o Proverbios Castellanos." These were translated into French, and form a very interesting and valuable book.

While the gleanings of Mal Lara were especially intended to foster a practical working philosophy of life, Juan Sorapan de Rieros, in his "Medicina Espanola en Proverbios Vulgares," took up the medical side, dealing alone with such utterances of popular wisdom as bore on the healing art.

Bartolome Ximinez Paton, in the year 1567, published a collection of over 1000 Greek and Latin proverbs, with a translation into Spanish, and, where practicable, the addition of a parallel or ill.u.s.trative Castilian proverb. The book pa.s.sed through many editions. The translations into the vernacular were in terse rhymes. Other collections, needless to particularise, though good to see, are those of Palmerino, Juan de Yriarte, and Cejudo, all of considerable antiquity, while so recently as 1815 was published in Barcelona the "Refranes de la Langua Castellana," and to this list others could no doubt be added. It will have been observed that the word, "Proverbios" is not employed, but "Refrane," a term derived from _a referendo_, because it describes a thing that is often repeated, an idea that we are familiar with in our common word "refrain."

How happily does this Spanish proverb satirise the readiness to resent what may have been, after all, a quite innocent remark, "He who takes offence has eaten garlic." The cap, as we say in English, fits. How happy again the sarcasm against awkward and inexpert helpers, "She tucked up her sleeves and overturned the kettle." The deference paid to wealth, the smoothing of the path, is graphically hit off in the adage, "An a.s.s loaded with gold overtakes everything." The man who can perhaps scarce write his name will find many to flatter him if his coffers be full.[105:A] On the other hand how good the counsel, "Seek not for a good man's pedigree,"[105:B] or this, "Advice whispered is worthless,"

for anything secret may well be regarded with suspicion, and sincerity needs no veil. How happy again the saying, "I have a good doublet in France," as applied to those who boast of something that cannot be come at; or the advice to avoid over-familiarity, "Shut your door and you will make your neighbour a good one."[105:C] A somewhat similar saying is this, "When the door is shut the work improves," for gossiping means distraction and neglect of duty. "Do not go every evening to the house of your brother." There is sound common-sense in the statement that "An indolent magistrate will have thieves every market-day," since his easy-going neglect of his duties will produce a goodly crop of knaves.

Those who solemnly tell as news what all can learn for themselves are happily ridiculed in the a.s.sertion that "When the spouts run the streets will be wet," or they are described as "guessing at things through a sieve,"[105:D] making a mystery of what anyone can see at a glance.

"Those that fly may fight again, Which he can never do that's slain,"

we learn in "Hudibras," and the sentiment re-appears in the Spanish adage, "It is better they should say, here he ran away, than here he died." The English dictum "Charity begins at home," is paralleled in this, "My teeth are nearer to me than my kindred," while our "Well begun is half done" re-appears in "A beard well lathered is half shaved." The well-known English proverb, "One cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," is happily rendered in Spain by the a.s.sertion, "A pig's tail will not make a good arrow"; while our advice to the cobbler to stick to his last, to attend to what he understands, has its counterpart in "Fritterman, to thy fritters."

The temptation to quote is great, but we will, in conclusion, set down but half-a-dozen more, leaving their interpretation to the sapience of our readers. "A friend to everybody and to n.o.body is the same thing,"

"Truth and oil are ever above," "Words and feathers are carried away by the wind," "A little gall makes bitter much honey," "It is better to accept one than to be promised two," "When we have crossed the sea the saint is forgotten."

The proverbs of fair Italy are very numerous. While not a few are sound in teaching and justly extol the ways of truth and uprightness, of honour and righteous dealing, others are too often merely the advocates of unmitigated selfishness, are strongly imbued with cynicism, and teach a general distrust and suspicion and the glorification of revenge. The political condition of the country, split up for so many centuries into petty princ.i.p.alities and republics, in an almost constant state of jealousy and feud, has no doubt greatly influenced its proverb-lore.

Thus, "Who knows not to flatter, knows not to reign," tells of a government at the mercy of cabals, while the saying, "An open countenance, but close thoughts," indicates the wisdom in an atmosphere of suspicion of a seeming content and the importance of great reticence of speech; while the ingrat.i.tude of princes is summed up in the adage, "He who serves at court dies on straw."[107:A] Fierce insurrection and sanguinary suppression have fed the fiery Southern temperament with burning hatred. Hence we get utterances so terrible in their vindictiveness as these: "He who cannot revenge himself is weak, he who will not is contemptible"; "Revenge of a hundred years old hath still its sucking teeth"--is yet but at its commencement. What internecine strife becomes under such influence is seen in the utterance, "When war begins h.e.l.l opens."

The soft Italian tongue lends itself readily to musical rhythm and pleasing alliteration, features that are ordinarily entirely lost in translation. This attractive cadence may be seen, for instance, in "Chi piglia leoni in a.s.senza suol temer dei topi in presenza," or "Chi ha arte da per tutto ha parte." There is often, too, a pregnant brevity, as "Amor regge senza legge," and a very happy use of hyperbole.

The proverb-literature of Italy is very extensive. In the year 1591 Florio, by birth an Englishman, by extraction an Italian, published in London "Il giardino di Ricreatione," a collection of some 6000 Italian adages; and a little later another Italian, Torriano, followed his example, he also being resident in England. Angelus Monozoni, in the year 1604, published in Italy another book on the subject, and in 1642 Julius Varini gave to the world his "Scuola del Vulgo." A much more recent and altogether excellent series is the "Raccolta di Proverbi Toscani" of Guiseppe Guisti, issued at Florence in 1853, and containing over 6000 examples.

"It is a foolish bird," we say, "that fouls its own nest," a sentiment that the Italians reproduce in their adage, "Mad is the priest who blasphemes his own relics." A higher point is reached in this, "We are all clay and G.o.d is the potter," and this, "Who has G.o.d for a friend has the saints in his pocket." Their intervention is needless. Another fine proverb is found in "Who doth not burn doth not inflame"--he must himself be on fire who would kindle ardour in others. "The favour gained, the saint derided," appears needlessly strong--"neglected" would have been truer to human nature.[108:A] "Sin confessed is half pardoned"

is true and good. "Everyone cannot have his house on the piazza," all cannot expect the best position, is quaint and of sound philosophy. "He who flings gold away with his hands seeks it with his feet," wandering forth in beggary and want. To such we may commend the warning, "Work in jest, want in earnest." In every nation the virtue of silence is upheld, and the Italians have many proverbs that deal with this: thus the gain of quiet listening is seen in this--"Talkers sow, the silent reap," reap rich wisdom from the words of the wise, prudence and caution from the loquacity of the thoughtless. The undignified flow of explanation, the lack of reserve in face of misfortune, are rebuked in the saying, "Words in plenty when the cause is lost."

In that mine of wisdom, the book of _Ecclesiastes_, we are warned that "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap," and the Italians in like manner declare that "He that looks at every cloud never makes the journey." The intuitive gift of womankind to realise the best course of action is the subject of proverbs the wide world over. In Italy it appears as "Women, wise on a sudden, fools on reflection." Every nation, too, appears to have some little tinge of self-righteousness, some sarcasm to spare for those outside its borders. Thus we are told that if one scratches a Russian we get at once to the Tartar beneath; and the Spaniard says, "Take away from a Spaniard his good qualities and there remains a Portuguese." The Italian in like manner has a proverbial rebuke for those who "drink wine like a German--in the morning, neat; at dinner without water; at supper, as it comes from the bottle"; and says, "May my death come to me from Spain," for so it will be long in coming--a hit at the Spanish habit of procrastination and the wearisome delays that thwart the despatch of business in that easy-going land where "manana" (to-morrow) is one of the commonest of expressions.[109:A]

Many of the proverbs of Italy are, naturally, not exclusively Italian, but when the Florentine declares that "Arno swelleth not without becoming turbid," we have a distinctly local application of the broad truth that they who would acquire riches quickly may fall into a snare, and that a sudden prosperity may be achieved at the expense of a soiled conscience. "Il remedio e peggio del male" is but an Italian version of the generally-accepted adage, "The remedy is worse than the disease,"

and "Una rondina non fa primavera" is their rendering of a truth familiar to us in the statement that "One swallow does not make a summer," a proverb of wide acceptance. In France it is "Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps"; in Holland, "Een swaluw maakt geen zomer"; in Spain, "Una golondrina no hace verano." We find it, too, equally at home in Germany, Sweden, and many other lands. Its significance is repeated in another Italian proverb that tells us that "One flower does not make a garland." A very characteristic utterance is that "Summer is the mother of the poor," life in sunny Italy being then less arduous to the indigent, and the problems of existence appear by no means so exacting.

The thorough-going character of German work is itself almost proverbial, and the treatment of the national proverbs in the "Deutsches Sprichworter-Lexicon" is an excellent ill.u.s.tration of this German thoroughness, the editor having managed to gather in over 80,000.

Another excellent compilation is that of Dr. Wilhelm Korte.

The proverbs, native or imported, that find most favour in the Fatherland are ordinarily excellent in quality and full of sterling good sense. We occasionally meet with rhyming examples, as in "Mutter treu wird taglich neu," a mother's love is ever fresh; or the less tender "Ehestand, wehestand," marriage state, mournful state; or "Stultus und Stolz wachset aus einem Holz," stupidity and pride grow on one bush; or again, in "Wie gewonnen so zerronen"; our "Lightly come, lightly go."

But these rhyming adages do not appear to be so characteristic a feature in German proverb-lore as in some other nationalities. The English protest as to the absurdity of carrying coals to Newcastle[110:A] is in Germany the equally needless task of carrying water to the sea--"Wa.s.ser ins Meer tragen." Another picturesque proverb is "Die sussessten Trauben hangen am hochsten," the sweetest grapes hang the highest. The greedy are rebuked in the adage--"The eyes here are bigger than the stomach,"

and the thoughtless and thriftless are warned that "One may in seeking a farthing burn up three candles." The difficulty in pleasing some people is felt as much in Germany as elsewhere and is expressed in the proverb, "No tree will suit the thief to be hung on"; and there is the equally true remark, "There are many more thieves than gallows," many escape detection and punishment. "Woman and the moon," we are told, "s.h.i.+ne with borrowed light," and the wife, in "die Hausfrau soll nit sein eine Ausfrau," is advised that her duties lie within the home and not outside it. It is, however, evident that to treat at any length on the proverbial lore even of Europe would mean not a volume alone but a shelf of goodly folios, a prospect much too overpowering. We pa.s.s then at once to a quite different sphere, and seek in widely different peoples some expression of their modes of thought and principles of action, as revealed to us in their popular dicta, and we may at once say that the search will result in the decision that, however much the outer envelope may differ, the inner thought will reveal to us that man, wherever we find him, is swayed by much the same impulses and guided by much the same motives, as he thinks over the problems of life. The resident in a mansion in Mayfair, in a kraal in Zululand, in a sanpan on some Chinese river, differ widely enough in externals and in much else, but we would venture to say that any good collection of proverbs, if rendered in the vernacular of each district, might travel round the world and find appreciation in every land. The burnt child dreads the fire in Samoa as in Salisbury, and that prosperity makes friends, and adversity proves them, is a piece of world-wide experience.