All are not hunters that blow the horn
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Pictures; or, More of His Plain Talk for Plain People
BLOW THE HORN.
HE does not look much like a hunter !
Nimrod would never own him.
But how he blows ! Goodness, gracious,
what a row ! as the linnet said when he
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A HORN- BLOWER, BUT XOT A HUNTER. 39
heard a donkey singing his evening hymn.
There's more goes to ploughing than know-
ing how to whistle, and hunting is not all
tally-ho and horn-blowing. Appearances
are deceitful. Outward show is not every-
thing. All are not butchers that carry a
steel, and all are not bishops that wear
aprons. You must not buy goods by the
label ; for I have heard that the finer the
trade-mark the worse the article. Never
have we seen more horn or less hunter than
in our picture. Blow away, my hearty, till
your toes look out of your boots ; there's
no fear of your killing either fox or stag !
Now, the more people blow, the more
they may, but he is a fool who believes all
they say. As a rule, the smallest boy car-
ries the biggest fiddle, and he who makes
most boast has least roast. He who has
least wisdom has most vanity. John Lack-
land is wonderfully fond of being called
Esquire, and there's none so pleased at be-
ing dubbed a doctor as the man who least
deserves it. Many a D.D. is fiddle-dee-dee.
I have heard say, " Always talk big and
somebody will think you great," but my
old friend Will Shepherd says, " Save your
40 JOHy PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
wind for running up a hill, and don't give
us big words off a weak stomach. Look,"
said he once to me, " There's Solomon
Braggs holding up his head like a hen
drinking water, but there's nothing in it.
With him it's much din and little done."
*' Of all speculations the market holds forth,
The best that I know for a lover of pelf,
Were to buy up this Braggs at the price he is worth,
And sell him — at that which he sets on himself."
Before honor is humility, but a prating
fool shall fall, and when he falls very few
will be in a hurry to pick him up.
A long tongue generally goes with a
short hand. We are most of us better at
saying than doing. We can all tattle away
from the battle, but many fly when the fight
is nigh. Some are all sound and +Mry, and
when they have bragged their b»'ag all is
over, and amen. The fat Dutchman was
the wisest pilot in Plushing, only he never
went to sea; and the Irishman was the
finest rider in Connaught, only he would
never trust himself on a horse, because, as
he said, " he generally fell off before he got
on." A bachelor's wife is always well
managed, and old maids always bring up
A HORN-BLOWER, BUT NO TA HUNTER. 41
their children in prime style. We think we
can do what we are not called to, and if
by chance the thing falls to our lot we do
worse than those we blamed. Hence it is
wise to be slow in foretelling what we will
do, for —
*' Thus saith the proverb of the wise,
' Who boasteth least tells fewest lies.' "
There is another old rhyme which is as full
of reason as a pod is full of peas, —
" Little money is soonest spended ;
Fewest words are soonest mended."
Of course, every potter praises his own
pot, and we can all toot a little on our own
trumpet, but some blow as if nobody ever
had a horn but themselves. '*After me the
flood," says the mighty big man, and
whether it be so or no we have floods
enough while he lives. I mean floods of
words, words, words, enough to drown all
your senses. O that the man had a mouth
big enough to say all he has to say at one
go, and have done with it; but then one
had need get to the other end of the world
till his talk had run itself dry. O for a
quiet hay-loft, or a saw-pit, or a dungeon,
42 JOHX PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
where the sound of the jawbone would no
more be heard. They say a brain is worth
little if you have not a tongue; but what is
a tongue worth without a brain ? Bellow-
ing is all very well, but the cow for me is
that which fills the pail. A braying ass
eats little hay, and that's a saving in fodder;
but a barking dog catches no game, and
that's a loss to the owner. Noise is no
profit, and talk hinders work.
When a man's song is in his praise, let
the hymn be short metre, and let the tune
be in the minor ke)\ He who talks for ever
about himself has a foolish subject, and is
likely to worry and weary all around him.
Good wine needs no bush, and a man who
can do well seldom boasts about it. The
emptiest tub makes the loudest noise.
Those who give themselves out to be fine
shots kill very few birds, and many a crack
ploughman does a shorter day's work than
plain John, though he is nothing off the
common ; and so on the whole it is pretty
clear that the best huntsmen are not those
who are for everlastingly blowing the horn.