[PW] Re: ? Oxen in a flower-garden

[swguardian-stumpers at yahoo.com]

I looked through the questia.com database (1657 to present) and my newspaper database, NewspaperArchive.com (1759 to present) and did not find it used in that form, or with the variants bull and cow substituted.

"Cramer, Jeff" <Jeff.Cramer at walden.org> wrote:  I've come across the phrase "like oxen in a flower-garden" (ca. 1861)
and although it is apparently a variant of the proverbial "bull in a china
shop" I haven't actually come across this phrase anywhere but in Thoreau's journals. Is anyone aware of this variant from other sources, or know its
origin? Was it a common expression? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
- Jeff





Jeffrey S. Cramer, Curator of Collections 
The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods 
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-- Henry D. Thoreau, 3 February 1852

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