"It is too bad," said the Idiot. "And I am just as sorry about it as you are; but, after all, the wisdom of the ancients, wise and wisdomatic as it was, should not be permitted to put at nought all modern thought. Why not adapt the wisdom of the ancients to modern conditions? You can't begin too soon, for new generations are constantly springing up, and I know of no better outlet for reform than in these self-same Spencerian proverbs which the poor kids have to copy, copy, copy, until they are sick and tired of them. Now, in the writing-lessons, why not adapt your means to your ends? Why make a beginner in penmanship write over and over again, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?'--which it isn't, by-the-way, to a man who is a good shot--when you can bear in on his mind that 'A dot on the I is worth two on the T'; or, for the instruction of your school-teachers, why don't you get up a proverb like 'It's a long lesson that has no learning'? Or if you are interested in having your boy brought up to the strenuous life, why don't you have him make sixty copies of the aphorism, 'A punch in the solar is worth six on the nose?' You tell your children never to whistle until they are out of the woods. Now, where in the name of all that's lovely should a boy whistle if not in the woods? That's where birds whistle. That's where the wind whistles. If nature whistles anywhere, it is in the woods. Woods were made for whistling, and any man who ever sat over a big log-fire in camp or in library who has not noticed that the logs themselves whistle constantly--well, he is a pachyderm." "Well, as far as I can reach a conclusion from all that you have said," put in Mr. Whitechoker, "the point seems to be that the proverbs of the ancients are not suited to modern conditions, and that you think they should be revised." "Exactly," said the Idiot. "It's a splendid idea," said Mr. Brief. "But, after all, you've got to have something to begin on. Possibly," he added, with a wink at the Bibliomaniac, "you have a few concrete examples to show us what can be done." "Certainly," said the Idiot. "Here is a list of them." And as he rose up to depart he handed Mr. Brief a paper on which he had written as follows: "You never find the water till the stock falls off twenty points." "A stitch in time saves nothing at all at present tailors' rates." "You look after the pennies. Somebody else will deposit the pounds." "It's a long heiress that knows no yearning." "Second thoughts are always second." "Procrastination is the theme of gossips." "Never put off to-day what you can put on day after to-morrow." "Sufficient unto the day are the obligations of last month." "One good swat deserves another." * * * * * "By Jove!" said Mr. Brief, as he read them off, "you can't go back on any of 'em, can you?"