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Tune the Old Cow Died of
(The). Advice instead of relief; remonstrance instead of
help. As St. James says
(ii. 15, 16), “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of
daily food, and one of you say to them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed
and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are
needful to the body; what doth it profit?” Your words are the tune the
old cow died of. The reference is to the well-known song -
There was an old man, and he had an old cow,
But he had no fodder to give her,
So he took up his fiddle and played her the tune -
`Consider, good cow, consider,
This isn't the time for the grass to grow.
Consider, good cow, consider.'
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Tune the Old Cow Died of from Infoplease:
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