[Ads-l] cut the cards (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

"The Expert at the Card Table" is a seminal book on sleight of hand with cards, and an interest of mine (the author, S. W. Erdnase, is presumed to have been named E. S. Andrews [reversal], and is otherwise unknown).  A fellow devotee asked me about a quote from it:
""Put your faith in Providence, but always cut the cards," is a wise injunction."

This is the earliest we've been able to find this particular variant.  

Finley Peter Dunne wrote Irish dialect pieces.  His 1900 book, "Mr. Dooley's Philosophy" has the variant: 
"Thrust ivrybody -- but cut th' ca-ards."  He wrote in several Chicago newspapers in the 1890s, so this may be a reprint from one of them, but I've not been able to locate it.

"Expert at the Card Table" was published in Chicago in 1902, so it may be that Erdnase read Dooley and cleaned up the quote and used it in his book.

I find "Put your faith in Providence and keep your powder dry" in 1894 (newspapers.com).

The "cut the cards" version is of greatest interest to me; does anyone know of any earlier uses?
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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