MAD bulls cannot be tied up with a pack-thread.

Far greater restraints, are needed. Obstinate people must be held in with strong measures. Our corrupt human nature in its madness is not to be ruled by mere resolves, nor by any power less than divine. “Some men demand rough treatment everywhere:

Will apples tempt a wild boar to a sty?

You cannot with a whistle tame a bear:

You cannot with a beckon lure a fly.” — S. C. Hall.

Mad dogs cannot live long.

The furiously wicked have but a short career. Bad for them, but good for the universe.

Mad folk are not to be argued with.

Any more than mad bulls. They are not in a condition of mind to appreciate argument, and should be let alone. To stand reasoning with a wild bull would be very absurd, and it is equally so to debate with a hot-headed partisan.

Mad people think others mad.

The judgments of men are warped by their own follies, and we should not pay too much heed to them. When a man is “mad as a hatter,” or “mad as a March hare,” his opinion of others is of small consequence.

Maidens should be mild and meek, Swift to hear and slow to speak.

The same advice will apply to men also; but the men like advising the women, better than doing right themselves.

Make all sure, and keep all pure.

Make every bargain clear and plain, That none may afterwards complain.

This would save a world of heart-burning, and greatly tend to peace and quietness. If possible, put it down in black and. white that there may be no after quibbling.

Make good cheese, if you make little.

Keep up the quality of your work, even if you cannot excel in the quantity of it.

Make groat excuses for people in love.

They have not all their wits about them. A temporary insanity possesses them. “Love is a dizziness:

It winna let a poor body Gang about his business.” Make haste slowly.

A wise Eastern proverb says, “ Hurry is of the devil, but slow advancing comes from God.” What is done hastily is seldom done well; and being ill done, it has to be undone, and this wastes time. “With eager feeding food will choke the eater.”

Make hay while the sun shines.

You cannot make it when it is pouring with rain, therefore seize on the season, and, like the busy bee, improve each shining hour. “Make your hay fine While sun doth shine.’” Make home happy, and you will be happy at home.

A golden sentence. When any one ceases to care for his home, it is one of the worst possible signs of moral sickness.

Make matters of care matters of prayer.

This is the wisdom of the anxious. To lay the matter before the Lord is to take the sting out of trial.

Make much of little.

By economy use a small income well; by grateful praise express your value of the least of God’s mercies; and by charitable judgment come to a favorable conclusion concerning those in whom you see even a little grace. One can see the sky in a single drop of rain, and a work of grace in a tear of repentance.

Make no debts, and lay no bets.

A debtor is a slave, and a better is no better; for before long his losses will bring him into the same condition of bondage. Rowland Hill said, “I never pay my debts, and for the best of reasons — never have any debts to pay.” Make not another’s shoes by your own foot.

For that which suits you very well may be quite unsuitable for another person. Every foot needs a last of its own. Allow latitude of thought and manner within the bounds of truth and holiness.

Avoid Chinese shoes both for yourself and others.

Make not fish of one and flesh of another.

Unless they are really distinct. Give equal justice to all; but yet discriminate, and judge none sweepingly.

Make not friends with an angry man or a drinking man.

The first is Solomon’s advice; the second does not need a Solomon to see its common sense. We grow like our friends; therefore let us choose them with care.

Make not much of little.

That is to say, when finding fault, don’t make mountains of molehills, nor crimes out of blunders. This is the apparent reverse of a proverb a little back; but then it applies to another set of things.

Make not thy tail broader than thy wings.

Have not more show than substance, more outgoings than incomings, more promise than ability to perform.

Make not two sorrows of one.

Do not so worry as to create a second sorrow, nor so sin as to involve a repetition, and perhaps an aggravation, of your grief.

Make not your holiday an unholy day.

Make one wrong step, and down you go.

This may be the case at any time; therefore cry unto “him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” With certain uncharitable people this proverb is bitterly true; for all your years of acceptable service will be forgotten if, for once in your life, you give them the least cause for complaint.

Make others happy, and you will be happy yourself.

When out for a holiday, a sour-visaged lady said to another, “Are you enjoying yourself? I am sure I am not.” “No,” said her friend, “I did not come out to enjoy myself, but to enjoy other people, and I am doing it heartily.” This is a surer way to pleasure than selfconsideration. “For the sake of those who love us, For the sake of God above us, Each and all should do their best To make music for the rest.” Make short the miles with talk and smiles.

Cheerful conversation causes time to fly by unnoticed.

Make speed to-day, you may be stopped to-morrow.

Whenever we have a chance for undisturbed work, let us use it, for there are many hinderers. If the train does not get over the ground where there are few stations to stop at, it will certainly make small speed upon other parts of the road.

Make sure of nothing, but that God is true.

Make the best of a bad bargain.

Say as little as you can about it, or you will be injuring your own reputation for good judgment. If you have entered upon marriage, and find yourself mistaken, “bear and forbear.” In all trying cases, among a trying people, say — “I’ll not willingly offend, Nor be easily offended; What’s amiss I’ll strive to mend, And endure what can’t be mended.” Make the plaster as large as the sore.

If you have given offense, let the apology and, if need be, the preparation, be ample. Make it up; leave no back reckonings.

Make your hay as best you may.

If the season is wet, watch the intervals between the showers, and use them with diligence. If we cannot alter our circumstances, we must do the best under them.

Make your mark, but mind what the mark is.

Too many seem eager for mere notoriety; but if we are not famous for goodness we are practically infamous.

Make your pudding according to your plums.

Arrange your whole plan of life so as to suit your means, and thus avoid debt, and other forms of failure. Some men try to do too much, and do it to their ruin.

Make your will without delay, For death may come on any day.

Great sorrow has been brought on families by neglect in the making of wills. It is cruelty to one’s own flesh and blood to leave one’s affairs unsettled. Yet some persons have a strange aversion to do what ought to be done by every sane man. Do they think that it will be signing their death-warrant, to sign their will? Reader, are you one of these willful waiters? Come, swallow the pill, And draw up your will.

Make yourself an ass, and everyone will lay his sack on you.

Too great softness is a rare fault, but a fault it is. We need not invite all the world to impose upon us. They will burden us if they can, and it is as well to let them see that we are not quite so stupid as they suppose. When the sheep is too meek, all the lambs suck it.

Malice is mental murder.

Man by nature is poor, proud, peevish and pig-headed.

Yea cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it. Man is an animal that sins. He is often a wolf to man, a serpent to God, and a scorpion to himself.

Man does not grow perfect in a hundred years; but in one day he becomes corrupt.

Man is a puff of wind and a pile of dust.

Yet “all men think all men mortal but themselves.” In truth, “Life’s but a walking shadow.” We rather seem to be titan really exist. Our life’s a shade.

Man proposes, but God disposes.

Napoleon boasted that he proposed and disposed too, but God’s answer was given when Napoleon was deposed.

Man’s saying is only saying; but God’s saying is doing.

With men, “ between saying and doing manor a pair of shoes is worn out”; but God speaks and it is clone. Dictum factum, Man’s security is Satan’s opportunity.

When we think ourselves wise and strong, our enemy soon trips us up, and proves us silly and weak. Carnal security is a strange fatuity. He is not safe who thinks himself so.

Man’s twelve is not so good as the devil’s dozen.

He is older and craftier than we are. How can we hope to cope with one whose experience is so wide, and of so long a duration?

Man’s work lasts till set of sun; Woman’s work is never done.

She has to prepare the meal before the man goes out, and also to have another ready when he comes home, and even through the night the children demand her care. It is as Tusser wrote: — “Some respite to husband the seasons may send; But housewife’s affairs have never an end.” Manners maketh man.

Not money, nor birth, nor office, but behavior makes the man among his fellows. To the proverb above is generally added the words, “Quoth William of Wickham.”

Manners you may have though you have no manors.

The man who has not a foot of laud, nor a pound in money, may yet be a perfect gentleman. In certain cases we might justly say, “He hath of manors and manners, none at all.”

Many a child is hungry because the brewer is rich.

What should have been spent in bread and butter has gone in malt and hops. A little fellow was asked by a lady, “Why do you not come for cold victuals any more? “and-replied, “Because father’s signed the pledge, and we get hot victuals at home. This story was told by J. B. Gough.

Many a cloudy morning leads on to a fine day.

So that we may live in hopes of its clearing up. Carry your umbrella, but don’t always put it up. Be careful, but not fearful.

Many a cow stands in the meadow and looks wistfully at the common.

Anxious to go from better to worse! Men often envy those whom they should pity. Mice outside envy those in the trap.

Many a dog is dead since you were a whelp.

You are not so young as you would wish me Go think you.

Many a fine dish has nothing on it.

Many a person who is comely is also a dummy.

An open countenance and a noble head may only be an apology for absent intelligence. We must not judge of men by their elegant appearance. A dish of finest ware only mocks a hungry man, if it brings him no food; and many a learned discourse is of this nature.

Many a good drop of broth may come out of an old pot.

An old text, an old minister, an old book, an old friend, an old experience, may yet yield us consolation.

Many a good tale is spoilt in the telling.

Let the speaker be too long, too loud, too low, or too lofty, and the best story will be sadly marred in the telling. It is a pity when it is so with the gospel.

Many a man cuts a stick to break his own head.

He, unknowingly, does that which will be to his own serious injury.

A man’s folly is his worst foe.

Many a one for land, Takes a fool by the hand.

Marrying property instead of wedding a sensible wife is a great absurdity. Surely, if the woman who is chosen for her land turns out a fool, there is a pair of them!

Many a one is good because he can do no mischief.

Involuntary virtue wins no commendation. He who would do mischief if he could, should remember that in a bad as well as in a good sense, the will is often taken for the deed.

Many a pang has been incurred Through a single hasty word.

Many a pearl is still hidden in its oyster.

No doubt there are as good pearls in the sea as ever came out of it.

Let us not despair for the times. God has jewels in hiding, Many a stroke must fell an oak.

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

That which was the, subject of mirth turns out to be a real cause for sorrow. We are all, at times, unconscious prophets.

Many acres will not make a wiseacre.

Broad lands and breadth of wisdom do not necessarily go together, and yet many seem to think that everything a rich man says is eminently important. Yet in the parable the rich man was a feel.

Riches cannot really cover folly, neither can they make art empty mouth speak golden words.

Many are betrayed with a kiss.

Judas aid this with our Lord, and we need not wonder if others do so with us. Yet let us not be betrayed by the kiss of Delilah: that form of kiss we can refuse.

Many are brave when the enemy dies.

They pursue to share the spoil. Win you the victory alone, and thousands will then fight, the battle o’er again.

Many are lighter in the heels than in the heart.

They dance with their feet, but they limp in spirit. They have a fantastic toe, but a fainting heart. Grief is all the more oppressive when it is forced to wear the mask of cheerfulness.

Many are wise in jest, but fools in earnest.

It is a small attainment to be great in foolery, and to be useless for all practical purposes; yet many are in that condition.

Many beat the sack and mean the miller.

They and fault with the sermon, but really dislike the preacher.

They have a personal animosity which prevents their speaking well of what the good man does or says.

Many can get money; few can use it well.

Even to keep it is not easy. Many of the silliest investments have been made by men who, in their own business, were shrewd to the highest degree. It is harder to weave than to gather wool.

Many can help one.

Without hurting themselves they can put their littles together, and aid a friend in the day of his need.

Many can make bricks, but cannot build.

They lack the organizing faculty, though otherwise good workers.

Many captains, and the ship goes on the rocks.

Divided authority is as bad as none at all. What would a man do with two heads differing in thought? “There can only be one captain to a ship,” one central source of rule.

Masters two, Will not do.

Many commit sin, and blame Satan.

Just as Eve said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Satan has quite enough sin of his own, without having our iniquities lathered upon him. Even the evil one can be libeled.

Many cut broad thongs out of other people’s leather.

Preachers and authors make bountiful extracts. Servants help themselves lavishly to sugar and butter at their master’s expense; and, in general, men are very generous with that which costs them nothing. Find a man in coals, and he will keep up a great fire at midsummer: pay his traveling expenses, and he will become a globe-trotter, and go nine times round the world.

Many dogs soon eat up a horse.

A number of fellows drinking and feasting at the expense of a man of means, will soon devour his fortune, as hounds will swallow a dead horse. These dogs are always prowling about.

Many drops make a shower.

Combinations of littles may accomplish great results.

Many find fault without any end, And yet do nothing at all to mend.

Many give an egg to get an ox.

Or a sprat to catch a mackerel. This is the Oriental manner of giving presents to great men, to get a large return.

Many go out for clothes and come home striped.

Especially when they invest in a Limited Company, and the concern gets into liquidation.

Many good purposes lie in the churchyard.

Dead and buried, like those who brought them forth. What we should be if we aid but carry out our good resolves!

Many hands make light work: this is clear.

Many hands make slight work: this I fear.

Many have come to port after a great storm.

Especially if they have taken on board the pilot of the Galilean lake.

Courage, ye who are test with tern pest, and not comforted!

Many hostlers starve the mare. “What!” say the Kashmiri, “eleven grooms for a one-eyed mare!” Alas, for the creature whose welfare depends on many! The business of many is the concern of none.

Unless you leave the work to one, I’m pretty sure it won’t be done.

Many hounds are the death of the hare.

She might baffle the pursuit, of one dog; but when another and another join in the hunt, what can she do? Many cares, pains, and losses, coming close upon one another, prove too much for weak minds. If God help not, the many hounds will kill the hare.

Many leaves fade in summer, and many men die soon. Many lick before they bite.

This I know by experience: and the worst lick-spittles bite the most venomously.

Many littles make a mickle.

Drop by drop the sea is fined. Add small to small, and it comes to great. Little grains make up the terrible quicksand.

Many love our persons for our purses.

Hear what the man said: “Leave you, dear girl! No, never; so long as you have a shilling.” “Sage Plutarch said in ancient days: ‘When the strong box contains no more, And when the kitchen fire is out, Both friends and flatterers shun the door.’” Many make straight things crooked, but few make crooked things straight.

Most true. But the former is a far easier task than the latter. To make crooked things straight is the peculiar work of God’s grace and providence. This he has promised to do.

Many men, many minds.

Many men mean mending, but more need it.

Many patients die of the doctor.

This is what people say when they are well. Then they talk of having no doctor, but “dying a natural death”; but, after a little pain, they pitifully cry out, “Send for the doctor.”

Many persons think they are wise, when they are only windy.

During a stormy discussion, a gentleman rose to settle the matter in dispute. Waving his hands majestically over the excited disputants, he began: “Gentlemen, all I want is common-sense — — -” “Exactly,” Douglas Jerrold interrupted; “that is precisely what you do want.” The discussion was finished in a burst of laughter.

Many rendings need many mendings.

Applicable, not only to garments, but to communities, to churches, and to the lives of men.

Many save their silver, but lose their souls.

Many a man’s soul has been ruined by his great love of money, although he had but little money to love.

Many sin like David, but do not repent like David.

Yet they readily quote David’s faults as their excuse. If, like David, I am defiled, let me, like David, be washed.

Many speak much, but few speak well.

And those who speak well are not eager to speak much. from mountains of laboring words there may only come a mouse of sense.

Many suffer long, but are not longsuffering.

Because they suffer unwillingly, and are angry and impatient.

Many talk like phi1osophers, and live like fools.

Many talk of Robin Hood, that never shot with his bow.

And many talk of Little John, that never did him know.

Of course, talk goes ahead mightily. If you cannot do anything great yourself, it is something to say that you know those who are famous, or, at least, that you know their cousin’s grand. mother’s housemaid.

Many tickle with one hand, to strike with the other.

Phasing in order to betray. The flatterer is a vile reptile; like a boaconstrictor, he covers his victim with saliva, and then proceeds to swallow him.

Many words will not fill a bushel.

They are but wind at the best. The Scotch say, “Meikle crack fills nap sack.”

Many would run away if they had courage enough.

Strange to say, fear has kept many men from playing the coward.

Mar not what marred cannot be mended.

If the mischief cannot be undone, we must avoid it with tenfold care. Do not break the shell if you wish to save the egg, for there is no repairing the damage.

March comes in like a lamb, and goes out like a lion; or it comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.

It seems ordained at one part or the other to rage and roar with tremendous wind. In this it resembles the lives of different men: some begin with peace and end with trial, and others commence roughly, but end in tranquillity.

March has many weathers, and life has many changes.

March is a lion or a lamb; Which it will be uncertain I am.

If this month comes in with raging winds, it often finishes delightfully; and, on the other hand, if it opens gently, it will rave before it is over. The month is near the vernal equinox, when wind is to be expected. We leave prophecies about the weather to Old Moore and Zadkiel, who know as much about it as the dead crow knows about the sea-serpent, March winds and April showers, Bring forth May flowers.

Sorrows and troubles produce lovely graces when God sanctifies them to that end.

Mark this, one and all:

Pride will surely have a fall.

A striking instance was given in the life of Elizabeth Stuart, sister of Charles I. When her husband, the Elector Palatine, hesitated to accept the Bohemian crown, she exclaimed, “Let me rather cat dry bread at a king’s table, than feast at the board of an Elector”; and, as Mrs. Jameson says, “it seems as if some avenging demon hovered, in the air, to take her literally at her word; for she and her family lived to eat dry bread-ay, and to beg it before they ate it — but she would be a queen.”

Marriage for love is risky, but it’s right.

Without love marriage is wicked. But love must not be blind or mad. True love will not drag its object into hopeless poverty.

Where love reigns supreme, the married life will be joyful, whether in wealth or in poverty: yet love is apt to fly out of the window when the wolf of want comes in at the door.

Marriage is either kill or cure.

It is either mar age or merry age, as the case may be. “O matrimony! thou art like To Jeremiah’s figs — The good are very good indeed; The bad too sour for pigs!” Yet people will venture upon it still, so long as the world standeth.

Aunt Rachel said it was a solemn thing to be married; but her niece replied that. it was a great deal more solemn not to be.

Marry a man, not a clothes-horse.

Fops, who give their whole mind to a lint or a waistcoat, are not worth looking after. As well marry one of the dummies in a tailor’s window. It is a great pity when the man who should be the head figure is a mere figure-head. In such a case it is a mercy if the grey mare is much the better horse. Says Giles, “My wife and I are one, Yet, truth, I know not why, sir.”

Quote Jack, “If I think right, you’re ten: |She’s one and you’re a cipher.” Marry for love, and work for the lucre.

The prudent father said: “Do not marry for money, but only for love; yet let not your love go where there is no money. Our proverb is better advice by far. When a couple are united in love, then their joint exertions can be given to obtain the supply of their necessities, and in general they will succeed.

Marry for love, but only love that which is lovely.

Marry in a hurry, and live in a worry.

Marriage is harness for a pair, and it should be adjusted with care, blinkers and kicking-straps included, wherever they are required.

This harness should be put on with due deliberation. Take time to do that which time cannot undo.

Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.

Marriage is a desperate thing. “The frogs in AEsop were extremely wise: they had a great mind to some water, but they would not leap into the well because they could not get out again.” Blessed is the man who can say, after twenty years: “I did commit no act of folly, When I married my sweet Molly.” Marry not without love, but love not without reason.

Marry your first love if you can, And hope to be a happy man.

Marrying is easy, but housekeeping is hard.

Thoughtless young people need to be reminded that they cannot live upon love, nor keep house upon none-pence a day.

Masters and mistresses are the greatest servants in the house.

On them lies the care of providing and directing, and they often he awake when Sarah and Ann are sound asleep.

Matches may be made in heaven, but they are sold on earth.

That is to say, they are too often a matter of bargain, and the lowest motives are brought into play. Many a match is made for gold:

The bride is bought — the bridegroom sold.

Match-making is a dangerous business.

Literally it is so; for these little light-makers are apt to burn. The allusion is, however, to marriage. Match-makers often burn their fingers. If a mistake is made, the couple are apt to blame the persons who brought them together, and lea them into matrimony.

To recommend anyone for a husband or a wife is a very responsible business, and it is, as a rate, best let alone.

Matrimony should not be a matter of money.

He that marries for gold is bought and sold. Yet, even in the old times, men did such mercenary things; for the rhyme ran: — . “Bring something, lass, along with thee, If thou intend my wife to be.” “May-be” is very well, but “must” is the master.

May good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both!

A good wish, having far more in it than at first appears. The joy of life depends more on digestion than on any other earthly thing. He that would have a good life must have a good liver. A great deal of misery is born of the stomach.

May that flirt soon light on a limed twig.

May he or side be caught, and held fast, so that the indecency of flippant flirting may be finally finished, in that case at least.

Measure men around the heart.

A man of great soul and large heart is a man worth knowing.

Measure three times before you cut once.

For you cannot uncut it, and you may waste the material.

Medicines are not meant to feed on. “Mirth,” according to Solomon, “doeth good like a medicine.” It should not be our daily bread, but it should be measured out in proper quantities as a tonic, and not as a constant food.

Meekness is not weakness.

On the contrary, it is a sign of strength, and a cause of it. The ox lies still while the geese are hissing. The mastiff is quiet while curs are yelping. As an instance among men: Moses was king in Israel because of his great meekness among a provoking people.

Men are strong and hale without strong ale.

Lions and horses drink water, and so did Samson. It is a popular fallacy that there is strength in strong drink.

Men are seldom rashly bold When they save a little gold.

A conservative tendency takes the desire for risk out of them, and they had rather let things be as they are. A Socialist was advocating an equal division of property. “And how much,” asked a Scotchman, “wad there be for ilka ane?” “Oh, maybe near a hundred pounds! Then I’ll na gang alang wi’ ye, for I’ve saved a matter o’ s, hundred auld twenty mysel’.”

Men hate where they hurt.

Men love best those whom they have benefited, and hate those whom they have injured.

Men, like puppies, are born blind, but they do not so soon have their eyes opened. “Man, a poor deluded bubble, Wanders in a mist of lies; Seeing false, or seeing double, Who would trust to such weak eyes? “Yet, presuming on his senses, On he goes, most wondrous wise; Doubts the truth, believes pretences, Lost in error, lives and dies.” Men make houses, but women make homes. Ruskin says: “Wherever a true woman comes, home is always around her. The stars may be over her head, the glow-worms in the night-cold grass may be the fire at her foot; but home is where she is; and for a noble woman it stretches far around her, better than houses ceiled with cedar, or painted with vermilion, shedding its quiet light far for those who else are homeless.”

Men may bear till their backs break.

But they very seldom do. They are generally more ready to put their backs up if you would lay a single ounce upon them.

Men may die of the plague, though the spots never appear.

Alas! sin may reign in the heart unto eternal death, and yet the life may appear free from grave moral fault. This leprosy lies deep within, and is fatal even when unseen.

Men muse as they use.

They think of others as they are and do themselves. They weigh other folk’s meat with their own steel-yard.

Men praise themselves, to save praising others.

None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. He who is greedy of applause never gives a cheer for a rival.

Men rattle their chains to show that they are free.

The wicked, who are slaves to sin, make much noise and shouting, that they may appear to be happy and at ease.

Men readily believe what they wish to be true.

The wish is father to the thought, and the thought is father to the belief. Hence we should be jealous of our beliefs when they coincide with our personal interests.

Men who carry honesty in their faces are often rogues.

I remember a very eminent bubble-blower, whom I mistook for an Essex farmer of the most plain and outspoken sort; and after looking at his honest face, and hearing his bluff speech and jolly laugh, I never wondered that people believed in him. An honest manner is essential to the success of a great rascal.

Men who have weak heads are generally headstrong.

So that if you forbid them a thing they will be sure to do it. Of such we have to say, “He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar” There’s no keeping fools from hurting themselves.

Men will blame themselves for the purpose of being praised.

This is called “fishing for compliments,” and it is not even so profitable a business as fishing for sticklebacks.

Men with nought in purse to spare Go most quickly through the fair.

So do some pass through life with less of hankering for the world by reason of their poverty.

Mendings are honorable; rags are abominable.

Women who are worth their salt will use their needle to darn and patch. Tom Fuller says: “Needle means ne idle, or not idle”; but surely rags mean rogues.

Mercies and miseries seldom come alone.

These fly in flocks. It never rains but it pours.

Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the innocent;.

Gentleness to those who commit burglary with violence is certainly cruelty to their victims; and there are many other cases equally to the point. We shall be glad to do away with the infliction of death when murderers set the example.

Mere wishes are bony fishes.

There is nothing solid and sustaining about mere dreams and schemes. The wishing-gate opens into nothing.

Merit only can measure merit.

A Sanscrit writer says: “No man can others’ virtues know, While he himself has none to show,” Mice have tails.

Meaning that something may follow by way of consequence, even out of a trifling action. We should consider the results of little acts, for these may be greater than at first appears.

Mice must not play with kittens.

Nor must men toy with temptations, for they are not able to resist them.

Miles test the horse, and years prove the man.

They say, “It is the pace which kills,” and it may be so; but it is far easier to make a great rush than to plod steadily on through a long life. Roasting before a slow fire is worse than burning.

Mind how you feed, especially when you feed your mind.

For as the silkworm is colored by the leaf it feeds on, so do men take the hue of their reading. As we would not eat carrion, let us not read garbage. Thackeray once said to a visitor: “I read very few novels. I am a pastry-cook. I bake tarts and sell them. I do not eat them myself: I eat bread and butter.”

Mind your “p’s” and “q’s.”

These letters are exactly alike, save that one is turned one way, and the other the other. If mistakes are made in them even a peer is queer. Great errors may arise from carelessness in little things.

Mind etiquette, or you will have the wrong ticket.

Mind that no doubting mind undermines your mind.

A danger very pressing just now. For many are the deceivers “Who, wheedling round, with metaphysie art, Steal true religion from the unguarded heart.” Mind that porter does not carry you off.

Double stout, though said to be nourishing, may readily carry a man half seas over. “Porter was a name given in the last century to a new mixture of malt liquors, which was at first chiefly drunk by porters; but it has twice earned its name by the tendency it displays of carrying heavy burdens and placing them upon men’s hearts, and by the success it has attained in carrying men front their homes, reason from the brains, money from the pocket, love from the bosom, peace from the conscience, reputation from the character, and too often life from its victim.”

Mind the corner where life’s road turns.

For as you turn that point, so will you be likely to continue. If one foot should there be placed awry, many a day may have to rue it.

Mind the main chance.

Bat what is it? Take care to answer this question wisely, and then obey the proverb.

Mind the paint! Keep clear of the face that wears it.

What good can you get from a picture painted on flesh? Paint is the outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual deceit. When a woman is painted up to the eyes, She’s a Jezebel even the dogs will despise.

Mind what is preached, more than how it is preached.

Meat is more than its carving, and truth is more than oratory.

Mind what you do, and how you do it.

Let the matter be good, and let the manner befit it.

Mind you get the right sow by the ear.

Don’t blame the innocent, nor pounce upon a person whom you ought not to assail. Leave all piggies’ ears alone, rather than seize upon the wrong one.

Mind your courting does not end in court.

Breach of promise has overthrown many a promising young man, Mind your own business, and you will be sure To avoid many troubles which others endure.

Men who mind their own business will be very likely to succeed; for there is very little competition in that line. You will do better at your own business than at anything else: “Every man can blow best on his own horn.”

Let every tailor keep to his goose.

Mind your till, and till your mind.

Look to your business, its takings and makings; but do not forget the nobler part of your being. Don’t put your soul along with the coppers; keep it cultivated with reading and thought.

Mind your work, and God will find your wages.

If not today, nor tomorrow, yet very certainly and abundantly, according to his grace, he will reward every good work.

Mirth should never run into mischief.

Boisterous boys should take heed to this. Mirth has its bounds.

When we meet merrily, let us so act that we may part merrily too.

There is an old saying not often quoted, but very true: “No mirth is good without God.”

Misers’ hearts are as hard as their hard cash.

Of such a man it could be said: “Iron was his safe, Iron was its door; His hand was iron, His heart was more.” Misery hath strange bed-fellows, In a common calamity men of different classes are thrown together without question of rank or character.

Misfortune comes on horseback, and goes away on foot.

Adversity pounces upon us like an eagle; but to retrieve a disaster is slow work. Sorrow seems to linger long.

Misreckoning is no payment.

This is clear enough in trade, and it is equally so in morals. Because a man thinks well of himself, is it therefore well with him? If a man’s conscience reckons amiss, this does not make a breach of the law an innocent thing.

Mistress Margery, do not scold, It makes you look so very old.

Ovid wrote: “Look in the glass when you with anger glow, And you’ll confess you scarce yourself would know.” Misunderstanding brings lies to town.

People are apt to misinterpret those whom they dislike, and then the misrepresentation leads on to libel and slander.

Mock not a cobbler for his black thumbs.

His disfigurement comes of honest labor, and, therefore, it is no theme for jest. Napoleon said, “Respect the burden,” and truly all labor, and all that necessarily comes of labor, deserves to be had in honor. In the cobbler’s case be very generous; for you ought to remember that while other trades take an earlier turn, he has to wait for his last.

Modest dogs miss much meat.

No doubt one can stand in his own light by extreme bashfulness.

Some puppies we know of never lose a mouthful from this cause..

Moles and misers live in their graves.

Scarcely can we say this of moles; but they are of the earth earthy, and so is the man whose heap of yellow dust is all he cares for: he is buried in the earth he has scraped together.

Moles don’t see what their neighbors are doing.

Some persons are so absorbed in their own earth-grubbing, that they know nothing of anybody else. This selfish isolation is, on the whole, not so mischievious as perpetual interfering.

Monday religion is better than Sunday profession.

Money answers everything, Save a guilty conscience sting.

Golden ointment is no cure for a wound of the heart. Ready money is ready medicine, but not for the sting of remorse. Some call it “the one thing needful,” but they know not what they say.

Money borrowed is soon sorrowed.

He that lends it begins to sorrow, even if the borrower does not; for, in general, he may mourn that he has parted from it to meet no more.

Money burns many.

They are injured by their wealth. Some by bribes are burned; for When money’s taken, Freedom’s forsaken.

Money calls, but does not stay; It is round and rolls away.

It makes the mill to go, but it goes faster than the mill-wheel. It is no more to be kept in the purse than snow in an oven; at least, so I find it. But why should we wish it to stay? It is the circulating medium! why should we detain it? If it rests it rusts. Let it go about doing good.

Money gained on Sabbath-day Is a loss, I dare to say.

No blessing can come with that which comes to us, on the devil’s back, by our willful disobedience of God’s law. The loss of health by neglect of rest, and the loss of soul by neglect of hearing the gospel, soon turn all seeming profit into real loss.

Money gilds over guilt.

Money is said to be a composition for taking out stains in character; but, in that capacity, it is a failure. Those characters which can be thus gilded must surely be of the gingerbread order.

Money has no blood relations.

There is no friendship in business. Sad that this should be a proverb in any land, but so it is. The Chinese say: “Though brothers are closely akin, it is each for himself in money matters.” They also say: “Top and bottom teeth sometimes come into awkward collision.”

So little power has relationship in the savage customs of business that, in some instances, one hand would skin the other, if it could make a profit by it.

Money is a good servant, but a bad master.

Even as a servant it is not easy to keep it in due subordination. If “money makes dogs dance,” it makes men proud. If we make money our god, it will rule us like the devil.

Money is often lost for want of money.

It is so when men cannot get their rights, from inability to pay legal charges. Yet if one had plenty of cash, it would not be wise to throw away good money after bad, Money is the best bait to fish for man with.

He bites greedily at a gold or silver bait: but is the creature which is thus taken worth the catching? He who can be bought, I think is worth nought.

Money is the servant of the wise, and the master of fools.

Money makes money.

The goose that lays the golden eggs likes to lay where there are eggs already; perhaps because it is a goose. The lard comes to the fat; hog. Capital grows by interest, or by wise use it brings in profit, and thus increases. Money is money’s brother. “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” — Psalm 62:10.

Money makes the mare to go and the dog to dance. Pecuniae obediunt omnia.” All things obey money.” This saying comes from the Latin, but it is true in English. A little palm oil will gain entrance where nothing else will do it. Officials are greatly mollified when their hands are, crossed with silver. In a more allowable sense, a good wife would be happier and more active if her allowance could be increased. If she has too little money to keep house upon, it takes the “go” out of her.

Money often unmakes the men who make it.

It has a defiling and degrading power over the mind which thinks too much of it. “Money and men a mutual falsehood show; Men make false money; money makes men so.” Money speaks more powerfully than eloquence.

Too often, because the speaker is a rich man he commands attention, and secures the approbation of persons who see no sound sense spoken by one who has no money bags. This is very well put in the following verse: — The man of means is eloquent:

Brave, handsome, noble, wise; All qualities with gold are, sent, And vanish where it flies.

Money spent on the brain Is never spent in vain.

Pour your money into your brain, and you will never lose it all.

Education is such a gain, that it is worth all that it costs, and more.

Yet some fellows learn nothing in the schools. Many a father, when his son returns from the University, might say, “I put in gold into the furnace, and there came out this calf.”

Money will make the pot boil, though the devil should pour water on the fire.

But such fuel is not to be depended on. We need something better than mere money to keep our pot a-boiling. Such boiling is apt to scald a man sooner or later.

Money wins where merit fails.

It is a pity it should be so; but, with worldly minds, to be rich is to be good. This vulgar error is long in dying. “The boy in yellow wins the day.” Canaries are still the favorite birds. “This is the golden age: all worship gold:

Honors are purchased; love and beauty sold.” Monk’s-hood is very poisonous. Beware!

Whenever a smell of Romanism is discernible, be on the watch.

More belongs to riding than a pair of boots.

So in most things there is much to be learned, and the thing is not so easy as it looks. Even in pastimes this is true, as the proverb saith, “More belongs to dancing than a pair of pumps.”

More die of idleness than of hard work.

A very small burial-ground will hold those who kill themselves with excessive industry; but the cemetery at Idler’s End covers many acres, and the ground is rapidly filling up.

More die of overfeeding than of underfeeding.

Death feeds himself at banquets, but fares ill where there are shortcommons.

Lean ribs last longer than fat collops. More die of suppers than of the sword. When other forms of physic fail, Try if fasting will avail.

More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.

Gentleness and cheerfulness attract more to religion and virtue than severe solemnity, or stern manners. There’s but little power, In religion sour.

More have repented of speech than of silence.

How seldom are men sorry for holding their tongues! How often have they had to bite their tongues with anguish at the memory of unguarded speech! Say nothing, and none can criticize thee.

More know Tom Feel than Tom Fool. knows.

Public characters are known by thousands, but they cannot know thousands themselves. “Don’t you know me? I heard you speak at Exeter Hall.” Wonderful argument!

More light, more life, more love.

Worthy to be a common wish, and to grow into a holy proverb. Light without life is a candle in a tomb; Life without love is a garden without bloom.

More meat, and less mustard.

Often we would like more solid argument and fewer angry words; more gospel and less controversy; more wages and less scolding; more gifts of charity and less lecturing upon thrift.

More pith and less pride.

Generally your boaster has nothing in him. of true grit. The more of the solid there is in a man, the less does he act the balloon.

More potatoes and fewer potations.

A capital motto for a laboring man. Father Matthew and plenty of murphies will be of more use to the Irish than all the whisky of all the stills in the Emerald Isle.

More than we use, is more than we want.

Except so far as we make reasonable store, like Solomon’s ant, whose ways he bids us consider and be wise.

More words than one go to a bargain.

Because one man says he would like it to be so, it does not follow that the matter is settled for both sides. It takes two to make a binding agreement; and theft agreement should be well talked over by both parties before it is finally decided.

Morning dew is good for the eyes.

Our forefathers thought much of dew in May; hence the rhyme: “The fair maid who, the first of May, Goes to the fields at break of day, And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, Will ever after handsome be.” But early rising at any time is beneficial to body and soul. “The muses love the morning,” and so do the graces.

Most felt, least said.

Deep and true feeling often causes an eloquent silence. The frost of the mouth goes with the thaw of the soul. Waters that are deep do not babble as they flow.

Most horses that are very fat have fed by night as well as by day.

This is an insinuation that those persons who have amassed great riches have none things which would not bear the light. Let it be hoped that this is not largely true. It is true in a measure.

Most men get as good a wife as they deserve.

And some get a great deal better.

Most things are difficult before they are easy.

Most trees have enough rotten wood about them to burn them.

We have enough of evil tendency in our nature to ruin us.

Motherless husband makes happy wife.

We don’t believe it. This is a shot at mothers-in-law, who are constantly made a butt of. Some of them deserve it, but many do not. Why not abuse fathers-in-law?

Mothers make men.

They have the formation of their boys’ characters.

Mother’s love is the cream of love.

It is most pure, holy, and unselfish. “A mother’s heart is always with her children.” Hence the return on the part of her sons of the sweet proverb, “The mother’s breath is aye sweet,” and that other: “ There is no mother like the mother that bore us.”

Mother’s truth makes constant youth.

Doubtless a good man generally comes of a good mother. It was usually so in Scriptural times, and it is so still.

Mourning tendeth to mending.

Sorrow is salutary, and when blest to us by God’s Spirit it leads to thought, and to our seeking for salvation.

Mouth and heart should never part.

True men speak only what they believe and feel. When the mouth is white and the heart black, the man has a plague upon him. When tongue and heart go different ways, The very soul of man decays.

Mr. Facing-both-ways is not to be trusted.

If we can scarcely trust an honest man, we ought by no means to put confidence in the double-faced.

Mr. Too-good is not Mr. Good-enough.

Those that think that they are a little better than there is need to be, may be sure that they are far below what they ought to be.

Mrs. Chatterbox is the mother of mischief.

They say that when ten portions of speech were given out, the women seized on nine of them; and, really, it would seem to be true of certain of them, though not more so than of the same order of men. Mr. Chatterbox is a worse mischief maker than his wife.

Much ado and little done.

Often the case; great horn-blowing, and yet no hunting. All sound and fury, and there’s an end of it. The King of France with might and main, Marched up a hill and down again.

Much banqueting, quick bankruptcy.

No doubt the kitchen fire has often burned up the house, and the table has devoured the estate.

Much broth is often made with little meat.

Long talk and short sense often meet in one. A very long story is often concocted out of a very tender supply of fact. Lengthy discourses are also manufactured out of the tiniest measure of thought and doctrine.

Much chatter, little wit; much talk, little work. Pope says: “Words are like leaves, and where they most abound Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” Much din and little done.

Often the case in religious movements, and political contests.

Much haste, much waste; much drink, little chink.

Much illness is caused by the want of pure air:

To open your windows be ever your care.

The fear of draughts leads many foolish people to live like rats in a drain. They dread fresh air, which is one of God’s best gifts. Would they not have been happy in the Black Hole of Calcutta?

Much in bed, dull in head.

Unnecessary sleep prevents men from fully waking up at any time.

Many walk in their sleep all day long.

Much is expected where much is entrusted.

Most justly and rightly so. “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. “ — Luke 12:48.

Much kindred, much hindered.

Demands from a large family and numerous poor relations, tend to keep a man poor. Still, there is a blessing in helping one’s kin.

Much laughter, little wit.

The flame is fast and furious when the fuel is light and unsubstantial. A bush blazes greatly, but the flame is soon over, and nothing remains. When people laugh at their own jokes their wit is very small beer, and is lost in its own froth.

Much rust needs a rough file.

Hence the sharp afflictions which some of us require to put us in a right condition.

Much to read, and nought to understand, Is to hunt much and nothing take by hand.

It is possible for a great reader to become a donkey loaded with paper. Brains can be buried under a pile of books.

Much water runs by while the miller sleeps.

Many opportunities are lost by neglect, and others by necessity; for there is a sleep which is needful as well as a slumber which is slothful. Be it how it may, the past is passed, and we can do nothing with it. The Poet was right when, listening to the clicking of the mill-wheel, he wrote- “And a proverb haunts my mind, And as a spell is cast; The mill will never grind With the water that is past.” Much would have more, and lost all.

Mud chokes no eels.

They have lived in it too long to feel its foulness. Use is second nature. People who dwell in filth lose sensitiveness, and grow used to abominations. No doubt, to a fox his hole is sweet, and pigs think they are cleaning themselves in the mud. People should be clean now that soap is so advertised. Lot us hope so.

Muddle at home Makes husbands roam.

Slatternly wives drive their husbands from the fireside; and it they go where they waste the money in drink, their wives may thank themselves for it.

Muddy spring, muddy stream. “ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” A depraved parentage cannot bring forth perfect children. Impure motives produce unholy actions. Impure amusements create vice.

Music will not cure the toothache.

Muchless the headache. “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast;” but in great grief it becomes a trial rather than a solace, and we think the man who offers it “more fool than fiddler.”

Must is a hard nut.

There’s no cracking it. We must even let it alone.

Must is for THE KING.

He alone can say that so a thing must be: yet even he for our sakes came under a necessity of love. “He must needs go through Samaria. “ — John 4:4. “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day.” — John 9:4.

Muzzle not the ox which treadeth out the corn.

Don’t starve the man who works hard to find you spiritual food.

Muzzled dogs bite no burglars.

If we are not allowed to speak truth boldly, we cannot save the church from teachers of error. Dumb dogs are not worth their bones. If they will not bite burglars, what is the good of them?

My dame fed her hens on thanks, but they laid no eggs.

And men who earn nothing but compliments are not likely to be very diligent in so unprofitable a service. “Pretty Pussy” and “Pretty Pussy” will not feed a cat. Fine speeches make poor suppers, and votes of thanks are notes of nothing.

My daughter-in-law tucked up her sleeves and upset the kettle into the fire.

She went at it with desperate zeal, as most newly-aroused people do, and, therefore, in her hurry she did more harm than good. Some stir the fire and poke it out; others make up such a fire that they set the chimney alight, and burn the house down. Too much zeal may be as harmful as too little.

My house is my castle, but “The Castle” is not my house. My kingdom is what I do, not what I have.

A clear conscience is better than a golden crown.

My mind to me a kingdom is.

The man is more to himself than an empire could be. Mind. that your mind is worth the having, for it is your only kingdom.

My son’s mother — where’s such another?

There is one good wife in the country, and many a man thinks that he hath her; but I know a man who knows that he is the man who hath the best wife in all the world.

My own dear wife, Joy of my life.

My ugly clog is a beauty.

To me he is by no means a horribly ugly pug, but his black muzzle and red tongue are charming; for he loves his master, and rejoices at the sound of his coming home.

SAYINGS OF A MORE SPIRITUAL SORT.

Make a crutch of your cross. Use it as a help on the road to heaven.

Make a savior of nothing but the Savior.

Make God your end, and your joy shall have no end. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” “What is my being but for thee, Its sure support, its noblest end?

Thy ever smiling face to see, And serve the cause of such a friend?” Make the Sabbath a delight from morning to night.

The poet Coleridge said to a friend, one Sunday morning, “I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two Springs in every year.”

Make Thou my spirit white and clear As the first snowdrop of the year.

Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.

Let the believer who is sorely tried remember this. The darkest part of the night is that which precedes the dawning of the day. When we are quite empty, the Lord will fill us.

Man’s holiness is “Much-ado-about-nothing.” Man’s life’s a book of history, The leaves thereof are days; The letters, mercies closely joined; The title is God’s praise.

Man’s merit is a madman’s dream. The legal path proud nature loves right well, Though yet ‘tis but the cleanest road to hell.

Many have gifts from God, but not “the gift of God.”

They have the comforts of life, but not eternal life.

Many things may dim a Christian’s view of Christ, but nothing can separate him from Christ.

Many wear God’s livery, but are not his servants.

Many worlds would not be enough for one carnal man; but one heaven shall be enough for all Christian men.

Mary was not praised for sitting still, but for sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Meditation fits a man for supplication.

It provides thought-fuel for the flame of prayer.

Meekness is the bridle of anger.

It is love pat to school to the Man of Sorrows.

Men cannot practice unless they know, but they know in vain if they practice not.

Men lose their lives by accident, but not their souls.

No. It is their willful fault, and not their misfortune, which ruins the souls of men.

Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.

If they die in their senses, conscience usually drives out their foolish indifference.

Men may live in crowds, but they die one by one.

A saying which recalls Faber’s pathetic lines: “Alone to land upon that shore, To begin alone, to live for evermore; To have no one to teach The manners or the speech Of that new life, or put us at our ease; Oh, that we might die in pairs or companies! “Alone? The God we know is on that shore; The God of whose attractions we know more Than of those who may appear Nearest and dearest here.

Oh, is he not the life-long Friend we know More privately than any friend below?” Men who love much, will work much. “The love of Christ constraineth us.” It is the most powerful of the forces which work for good.

Mercy despised brings misery deserved.

Mercy is “from everlasting” to contrive thy salvation, and “to everlasting” to perfect it.

Mercy is without price, and beyond all price. ‘Tis heaven, and yet it is given away: ‘Tis all in all, and yet “nothing to pay.” Mercy’s gate opens to those who knock.

Ministers can persuade, but God alone can prevail.

We can explain truth, but God must apply it.

Ministers should be stars to give light, not clouds to obscure.

In some cases the text is as clear as a mirror, till the preacher’s breath bedims it. We ought to pick out all hard words from our speech: good cooks stone the plums.

Ministers should study as if all depended on study, and preach knowing that all depends on the Holy Spirit.

Miseries often drive men to their mercies.

Even as the black dog drives the stray sheep to the shepherd.

Most men forget God all day, and ask him to remember them at night.

Most people would sooner be told their fortunes than their faults.

Yet the first would be an idle lie, and the other a practical truth.

Mourners in Zion are more blessed than merry-makers in the world. “Blessed are they that; mourn: for they shall be comforted.”

Matthew 5:4.

Mourning only lasts till morning with the children of the morning.