OLD ENGLISH PROVERB.
“An ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of learning,” seems well exemplified in the following dialogue, translated from the German:
Hans, the son of the clergyman, said to the farmer’s son Frederick, as they were walking together on a fine summer’s evening, “How large is the moon which we now see in the heavens?”
Frederick. As large as a baking-dish.
Hans. Ha! ha! ha! As large as a baking-dish? No, Frederick, it is full as large as a whole country.
Frederick. What do you tell me? as large as a whole country? How do you know it is so large?
Hans. My tutor told me so.
While they were talking, Augustus, another boy, came by; and Hans ran laughing up to him, and said, “Only hear, Augustus! Frederick says the moon is no bigger than a baking-dish.”
“No?” replied Augustus, “The moon must be at least as big as our barn. When my father has taken me with him into the city, I have observed, that the globe on the top of the dome of the cathedral seems like a very little ball; and yet it will contain three sacks of corn; and the moon must be a great deal higher than the dome.”