THIS morning's walk, which is part of my ritual before I settle down to hammer out my daily stint on the word processor, was blessed by the singing of two skylarks. As I crested the hilltop I could hear them; they were somewhere beyond my vision high in the heavens but their music was both a delight and a tonic as I wondered whether winter had truly departed.

Certainly that morning, which arrived two weeks before this appears in print, was spring-like in both its temperature and sunshine, and I had to remind myself that winter was little more than half-way through its annual programme. Although the morning chorus of springtime was not then in full voice, those skylarks did remind me that the new season is approaching with incredible speed; already, I've heard a blackbird singing before dawn, a chaffinch voicing his praises from a hawthorn tree and a jenny wren filling the air with superb melody.

Possibly as these words appear in print, those solitary voices will have been joined by others, all singing the praises of the new season with the vigour of converts. As well as the birds, our plant life is responding too - the snowdrops have been wonderful, the crocuses have added their charm and as I write these words, daffodil shoots are thrusting from the ground, almost with the speed of rockets. Spring may not be here yet - but all the signs indicate it is not far away.

Words of wisdom

If the country people of bygone times were not given the benefit of any formal education, they compensated by showing an impressive range of wisdom, a deep understanding of nature and wonderful powers of observation. Furthermore, they would not tolerate human fools and it is perhaps this character trait which has given rise to the belief that northern countryfolk are too blunt and honest - much too straight-talking, in other words.

In many cases, those same country people would be unable to put their thoughts into writing or even explain them to a sophisticated audience, and so they produced a whole range of proverbs and sayings which attempted to convey their innermost feelings. Even now, many people use similar tactics to convey their thoughts. Recently I heard a trades union official saying his workers had "been sold down the river" - a most curious phrase for the English to use - while another said his factory had suffered a double whammy, and a Yorkshireman told his pal that he'd been very busy lately, saying he'd been "as thrang as aud Throp's wife".

Countryfolk make use of other phrases and I was reminded of this some time ago when an empty-headed buffoon was airing his views before a gullible audience in a public house. He turned and asked a villager what he thought and the old man said: "Well, where I come from, we say empty vessels make the most noise - and you're doing your fair share." There is a similar dialect saying which, translated into standard English, says: "The loudest shouters in a market are those with the least on their stalls" which is another way of saying that those who make the most fuss are often those with the least common sense or knowledge.

Such lack of wise restraint is shown in another old dialect proverb which reads: "It's better 'at fowk laugh at ya for knawing larl aboot owt, than you loss your brass by pretending ti knaw ower mich." Translated, this means "It is better that people laugh at you for knowing little about anything, than you should lose your money by pretending to know too much." As a proverb, of course, it has a range of meanings well beyond its literal sense - like this one: "Mischief is a fruit that nobbut needs a shot of summer to ripen it." In other words, mischief soon reaches a climax so perhaps it should be halted before reaching that stage. Zero-tolerance perhaps?

"Good behaviour never needs a drain pipe" is another gem and I like this one: "He's nobbut half rocked that believes everything, but he's clean out of his head that believes nowt," but there is one piece of rustic Yorkshire wisdom which ought to have a wider audience. It goes "Maist folks can see t'wrang they've deean, but nut t'wrang they're deeing" or "Most people can see the wrong they've done, but not the wrong they are doing" and this is supported by another which goes "Daftness nivver builds ought worth leaving up," or stupidity never produces anything worth being allowed to remain.

There are lots of other like proverbs, far too many to catalogue here, but I like "Them 'at nivver dis owt for thersells, allus imagines there's nowt in t'world that's hard di deea", and "Them 'at grummles sae mich aboot what they haven't gitten, are maistly oot o' love wi' t'things they 'ave", and "Impatience is t'hoss folks saddle up and gallop ti meet their troubles." Perhaps I should add "Closed lips and open eyes save many a chap from a quarrel!"

In addition to these home-spun proverbs, there is a wealth of similes - such as as greedy as a fox in a hen-roost; as warm as a sheep-net; as daft as a bucket; as waffly as a mill-sail; as slape as a greasy-pole; as friendly as a bramble-bush; as busy as a cobbler's Monday, and a plain as a pike-staff.

I like the story of the eccentric author Laurence Sterne, the author of Tristram Shandy and other renowned works (and the former vicar of Stillington and Coxwold) who appears to have regarded one of the canons of York Minster as a pompous ass. The tale goes that the two met each other in narrow passage at the minster but the canon refused to give way to Sterne, saying: "I never give way to a fool."

"I always do," said Sterne, stepping aside.

Say no to cussing

On the subject of dialect proverbs, it seems the country folk of the past did not like to hear bad language or what was described as low-living talk. The old saying goes "Cussing an' low-living talk there's neea call for; ther's nowt can hap it up and ther's nowt gitten by it." This means there is no need for swearing and other bad language, neither is there anything than can cover it up. Nothing can be gained by it either.

This might be a surprisingly cultured attitude among men who lived in very unsophisticated conditions, and it might have had some links with their strong religious faith. It is not surprising, therefore, that there are some ancient superstitions about swearing.

One was that one should never swear or use bad language within the hearing of bees in their hive.

It used to be thought that anyone who swore or blasphemed within the hearing of bees would be severely stung, and another associated notion was that one should never swear within range of a church bell's sound. There is one old story of some workmen removing a church bell which had to be carried by boat across a river. Things went well until the boat was half-way across, and then the bell shifted. The boat was threatened with sinking but unfortunately, one of the workmen swore in the stress of the moment, whereupon the bell toppled over the side of the boat and sank, never to be seen again.

There used to be a fairly widespread belief that swearing and blasphemy would result in bad fortune, this being associated with the idea that bad words would produce bad luck and attract the forces of evil. For this reason, swearing was banned on board boats at sea, particularly on the fishing vessels along our coasts. There are tales of fishermen swearing quite openly on the quayside or in the company of their friends when ashore, but the moment they stepped aboard, all swearing came to an end. Even if things went wrong with the nets or machinery on board, no swearing followed.

And finally, I love this story of an old countryman who had never been on holiday. Unmarried, he retired from his farm at the age of 85 and was invited to stay with relations down south. A friend exhorted him to go, saying he'd drive him to the railway station. When the friend arrived to pick him up, the old man appeared without any luggage. "Where's your suitcase?" asked his friend. "I don't need one, I'm only going for a week," replied the old man.