The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-28

surface of the water smiling. and brighter
and more beautiful than before. The
mother saw no difference in the child, but the
old crones in the village at once dubbed II mer-
maids changelng. Years passed away as they
are in the hDbit Of passing, aud Selma Penna
grew up y beautiful woman. The squire's
nephew, urged by the praises of a malevolent
man, a rejected suitor OF her mothers saw her,
fell in love with her, aud seduced her. Broken
hearted at her disgrace, she died, and was buried
in the churchyard on the sands. The night after
a revel, the squire's nephew (Walter Trewoofe),
etrayng on the sands, Leard voice singing
dirge, and passing round rock, discovered
beautiful woman seated at the mouth OF
cavern. She wRs like his buried love- but she
disappeared when he seized her by the hand.
On another visit to the same cavern, the maiden,
as he addressed her, turned into mermaid, who
seized him in her arms storm rose, the
waves broke round the rock, and Wal er Tre-
wooie fou,El too late that the vengeance of the
waterspir1ts had overtaken him. sill the mer
maid Clasped him, till the sea washed them both
10 the highest pinnacle of the rocks, and then
bore them out 10 the ocean. That night, during
the tiercest Of the storm, the water.spirits we're
seen tossing from one TO another the corpse of
the seducer and DESTROYER of one Of their race.
The Cornish fairies are less sprighty
and more malevolent than those of
Devonshire. There are five species of Cornish
iaires-the Small people; the Spriggans, the
ghosts of tue giants who guard treasure; the
Piskies, mischievous sprites who mislead travel
lers and ride the farmers horses; the Knockers
or mine spirits; and the Browneys, or domestic
sprites.
The Small people are by some supposed to be
the old Druids, gradually becoming smaller and
smaller, because they will not renounce their
idolatry They resemble the elves OF Scandinavia
in many of their attributes. Others imagine
them to be the spirits OF the old inhabitants of
Cornwall who lived centuries before the birth of
Christ. Too bad for heaven, too good for he'll
they are condemned to remain on earth, and TO
grow smaller and smaller, till they turn into
ants, and then perish.
The Irish have almost the same belief only
thnN hot hn airin n ia
fallen ANGELS, who, less guilty than the rest,
were suffered to undergo final state of proba-
ton. At st. Ives there is tradition OF poor
woman, who lived on one OF the hills near
Zenor church-tower, being iDtrusted by the
fairies with child to nurse. BY using some
water to WASH her eyes with from magic ever,
supplied by the child's father she became pos
sessed OF the power of seeing the fairies any
where and at all times. Detecting the fairy
father stealing fruit at st. Ives market, her
power became known, and the fairies put out
her right eve. %hen she got home the bov was
gone, and from that hour she and her husband
| became poor.
Scrofulous children, in Cornwall, are often
supposed to be changelings. Some thirty years
| since poor woman of the hamlet OF TreoniEe
| lost her little boy in wood. 1t was found
| some days after, asleep on bed of fern. BY his
| own account he had been lured into the centre
| of the wood by supernatural music. Falling
asleep, a beautiful lady appeared, and had led
| him through the palaces of Fairyland. The
| Gump of st. Just has always been notorious as
| the revelling ground of the Small People. On
| one occasion an old miner hid himself near the
| gump, in hopes of seizing some OF the fairy
| treasure. At the due time he saw the hill open
10 the sound of music. Every blade of grass
| was hung with colored glow-worm lamps every
turzs bush sparkled with little stars. Presently
| appeared innumerable courtiers soldiers, musi-
clans, and crowds OF servants bearing vessels of
| silver and gold, and cups followed out of
| jewels. Last of all, on thrones, carried on a
| platform, came young prince and princess
AS the marriage feast began, the cid
man stole round to the back Of the mound,
Sbs e' e his sups R at the GSg%d
was dark there, and as he looked over the hill.
lock, he was startled by seeing thousands of
little eyes all intently and mischleyously fixed
on him. screwing up his courage, he took off
| his hat, and raised it to cover the prince, prin-
cess, and their little table OF gold plate, when
| shrill whistle was heard-hls hand remained
| motionless in the air, and the banquet dsap.
peared. There was buzz round him, as of a
| fight of angry bees, and from head to foot he
was pricked and punched. Then he rolled down
the mound, and lay speechless, his arms and
| legs, like Gulliver's, secured by thousands OF
little silken strings As the moon shone out he
saw fairy, no larger than dragon-hy, stamp
| ing on his nose, and dancing with glee. When
the sun arose he found that he had been tied to
the ground by gossamer webs. He shook him
self, and was free. Wet, cold, and sulky, he re-
turned home to tell his misfortune to his friends.
This was a fairy wedding; but a fisherman of
Lelant had once the good fortune to see the
funeral of queen OF the fairies. He was return
ing from ST. Ives laden with pilchards, when he
heard the bell of Lelant Church toll as ii il was
muffled. Making his way over the waste and
hills of blown sand, he looked in at a window
and say that the building was illuminated. The
fares dug a little hole near the sacrament table
and placed in il the body of their queen, thro W.
ing in upon it flowers and myrtle branches
When the mourners began TO shrek, the fisher
man involuntarily shrleked too. Instantly the
lights were eXtinguished, and the intruder wa'
pursued, and pricked and pinched till he ha(
left the little folk far behind in his maddeneC
flight
These Small People, too, are sometimes as thiev
ish as they are mlschievous. Not many years einct
a aiavorite red-and-white COW of a farmer at Bos
trancan ceased to give her usual quantity o
milk. On the evening of one midsummer's day
the dairymaId who had MIXED this COW pluckeC
handful of clover to put on her hat to steady
the bucket. Among this clover there happened
| to be q stem with four leaves; this gave thu
girl power TO see the Small People, When she
loo ked there were thousands of them filling
| buttercups and fOXglove AOwers from the milk
and laughing and drinking as they gathered
their stolen beverage. By her mothers advice
the dairymaid instantly rubbed the cows udde
| with fish brine, to scare the Small People. Tht
COW never yielded much milk alter that
but pined away, and nothing throve with tn,
| farmer
The little green spots between the cairns, nea
the Logan Rock are called THE Small People
Garden On summer nights music Is hear'
there, and hundreds OF little lights ar
seen moving among them. Far out at sea tn
fishermen smell the scent. BY day the flower
: turn TO mere ferns and seapnks. Sometime
the fairies hold fairs, Some miners saw on,
once at Bal Lane, Germoe. Next day one o
them, as he told the story in the mine fell do WI
the "bob pit" !" and was killed. His companion
VINO called fairies wicked, spiteful devils,
was thrown down stairs, and dreadfully bruised
In many fairy Stories as in ''The Adventures o