Proverbs from the Talmud

The ass complains of the cold even in July.

A single light answers as well for a hundred men as for one.

Teach thy tongue to say: "I do not know."

Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend; be discreet.

Deal with those who are fortunate.

The doctor who prescribes gratuitously gives a worthless prescription.

The soldiers fight, and the kings are heroes.

Make but one sale, and thou art called a merchant.

If the fox is king bow before him.

The rivalry of scholars advances science.

The world is saved by the breath of school-children.

Even to rebuild the Temple, the schools must not be closed.

If a word spoken is its time is worth one piece of money, silence in its time is worth two.

Blessed is the son who has studied with his father, and blessed the father who has instructed his son.

Rab said: "Men should be careful lest they cause women to weep, for God counts their tears."

In cases of charity, where both women and men claim relief, the latter should be first assisted; if there should not be enough for both, the men should cheerfully relinquish their claims.

Rabbah said: "When one stands at the judgment seat of God these questions are asked: "Hast thou been honest in all thy dealings? Hast thou set aside a portion of thy time for the study of the Law? Hast thou observed the first commandment? Hast thou in trouble still hoped and believed in God? Hast thou spoken wisely?"

Curious Forms of Taking Oaths Around the World

1903

Customs Followed by Chinese, Hindus, Persians, and Other Peoples

The bill to repeal the law providing for extra judicial oaths in all civil courts calls attention to the variety of oaths that might be brought into practice in a court of world-wide cosmopolitanism, says the Milwaukee Sentinel.

The section of the law which it is sought to repeal has been on the statute book for many years, but has rarely been invoked by either of the parties to an action. It's existence has, however, sometimes been prejudiced to the impartial administration of justice.

Chinese witnesses must be sworn in several ways if they are to be bound to tell the truth. In some cases the witness breaks a plate and assents to the imprecation that his soul may be shattered in the same way if he strays from the paths of veracity.

With a large section of the Chinese the formula is for the person administering the oath to light a match or candle and. blowing it out, tell the witness that thus will his soul be extinguished if he does not speak the truth, to which he assents by giving a short nod.

Some tribes living on the Thibetan tableland can only be sworn in court by cutting off the head of a live gamecock. The Hindoo law says:

"Let a judge swear a Brahman by his veracity, a soldier by his horses, his elephants, his grain or his money, and a souder by all his crimes."

Quakers, in all civil cases, are allowed to give their evidence in affirmation, as also are the Moravians and Separatists.

A Galla of Abyssinia sits down over a pit covered with a hide, imprecating that he may fall into a pit if he break his word.

A Brazilian savage, to confirm his statement, raises his hand over his head and thrusts it into his hair or touches the point of his weapons.

Among the Aracans, an Asiatic tribe, the witness swearing to speak the truth takes in his hand a musket, a sword, a spear, a tiger's tusk, a crocodile's tooth or a stone celt. The hill tribes of India swear by a tiger's skin and the Ostraks by a bear's head.

The sacred oath in Persia is "by the holy grave," that is, the tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried in Cashmere.

Members of the Kirk of Scotland are sworn by lifting the hand while the book is laid open before them; Jews are sworn on the Pentateuch with their hats on; Mohammedans by placing the right hand flat on the Koran and the left on the forehead, and then bringing down the forehead to the book, and finally gazing a while at the book. The highest oath of the man who dwells by the Ganges, in India, is taken on the water of that river.