Imagine Adam's surprise when he discovered that he could make a shrill, though not unpleasant, sound if he held his mouth just right and blew! He must have been as delighted as youngsters are nowadays when they acquire this new noise-making ability!
Did Eve come running and say, "Oh Adam, teach me how to do that too!" She may have. She didn't have a mother telling her, "Whistling girls and crowing hens always come to some bad ends"! I had such a mother, and I suppose she had such a one too, because these ideas tend to get passed from one generation to the next. I think it had to do with keeping little girls
girl-like. (Whatever that means.)
This was the same Mama who could summon boys from their baseball game in the pasture with an ear-splitting whistle she produced by placing her thumb and forefinger to her lips. It never occurred to me to question why this was acceptable and my merry whistling was not. Because it was useful rather than frivolous? Because she was already grownup and wouldn't be harmed by doing something "boyish"? Simply because she was the Mama?
The popular American essayist, Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), wrote that this is one of many proverbs which we accept without questioning and vaguely respect as the wisdom of our ancestors! It probably has a Puritan origin, he says, speaking as one of Puritan descent. "Very likely the musty saying [is] the product of the average ignorance of an unenlightened time, and ought not to have the respect of a scientific and traveled people." He goes on to say that a crowing hen was not an object of derision, but was instead one of interest and distinction. The owner was proud of her accomplishment and eager to point her out to visitors, especially if she also could produce eggs. A hen that could lay and crow was indeed a rare bird! "Thus the crowing hen was of more value than the silent hen, provided she crowed with discretion, and she was likely to be a favorite and not at all to come to some bad end."
And the whistling girl does not ordinarily come to a bad end either. As a matter of fact, she has an advantage over some others: She can whistle to keep up her courage! Anna, in "The King and I" sings, "Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect and whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I'm afraid . . . The result of this deception is very strange to tell, for when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well!" (Oscar Hammerstein II) While whistling and other self-confidence boosters can never take the place of trusting God, there is something to be said in favor of a positive outlook.
Thus the whistling girl is of at-least-equal value to the silent girl,
provided she whistles with discretion, and she is likely to be a favorite and not at all to come to some bad end!
MaryMartha
"The Whistling Girl" essay from http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/17695/
Did Eve come running and say, "Oh Adam, teach me how to do that too!" She may have. She didn't have a mother telling her, "Whistling girls and crowing hens always come to some bad ends"! I had such a mother, and I suppose she had such a one too, because these ideas tend to get passed from one generation to the next. I think it had to do with keeping little girls
girl-like. (Whatever that means.)This was the same Mama who could summon boys from their baseball game in the pasture with an ear-splitting whistle she produced by placing her thumb and forefinger to her lips. It never occurred to me to question why this was acceptable and my merry whistling was not. Because it was useful rather than frivolous? Because she was already grownup and wouldn't be harmed by doing something "boyish"? Simply because she was the Mama?
The popular American essayist, Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), wrote that this is one of many proverbs which we accept without questioning and vaguely respect as the wisdom of our ancestors! It probably has a Puritan origin, he says, speaking as one of Puritan descent. "Very likely the musty saying [is] the product of the average ignorance of an unenlightened time, and ought not to have the respect of a scientific and traveled people." He goes on to say that a crowing hen was not an object of derision, but was instead one of interest and distinction. The owner was proud of her accomplishment and eager to point her out to visitors, especially if she also could produce eggs. A hen that could lay and crow was indeed a rare bird! "Thus the crowing hen was of more value than the silent hen, provided she crowed with discretion, and she was likely to be a favorite and not at all to come to some bad end."
And the whistling girl does not ordinarily come to a bad end either. As a matter of fact, she has an advantage over some others: She can whistle to keep up her courage! Anna, in "The King and I" sings, "Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect and whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I'm afraid . . . The result of this deception is very strange to tell, for when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well!" (Oscar Hammerstein II) While whistling and other self-confidence boosters can never take the place of trusting God, there is something to be said in favor of a positive outlook.
Thus the whistling girl is of at-least-equal value to the silent girl,
provided she whistles with discretion, and she is likely to be a favorite and not at all to come to some bad end!MaryMartha
"The Whistling Girl" essay from http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/17695/
The music is an image included with the poem "Whistling Sam" found in The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, published 1913; the source is The Gutenberg Project. Ah, could the Sam possibly be Samantha?
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