Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Trivet: Ve get too soon oldt . . .

Marash Girl was so excited when she found this trivet in a church thrift shop in Falmouth on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  Was her father visiting her again from the next world . . . and laughing? He LOVED to quote the phrase in German-accented English (yes, he had studied German in high school so he knew the accent well), "Ve get too soon oldt und too late schmart!" He probably first saw the quote on this trivet or one very much like this one -- a trivet which graced a dining room table in the 1930's! Or perhaps he knew the original expression in German . . .  We children would often hear him laughing, and repeating in a somber voice, "Ve get too soon oldt und too late schmart!"

2 comments:

  1. Dad would also recount the story of how when a child is young he thinks his parents stupid, or retarded, or oblivious. it is only when the child ages a bit, and is out in the world that he is amazed at how smart and wise his parents have suddenly become.

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    1. Dad always quoted Mark Twain, who was amazed at how much his father learned in the 8 years (between the time he was 12 to the time he was 20). "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. - [Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer.

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