The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-09-19


shoulders to the wheel for The sake of oul
Queen and country. If need be, you mus
rally round your old chief You should
have heard the roar there was, for they
were all very fond of Sir John; aud indeed
his strong ale was something to be remem.
bered. But he went on, when silence
was restored, we must all make sacrifices
you, and |, and everybody. | have to
make 'em first of all. Do you know what
the war costs me, my frients and tenants ?
I'll tell you-more than pount a day 2
'Deud dnooyIH cried all the tenants; "a
pount day Think of that, David Sir
John paying a pOunt day to the war.
Dear me " And now, my frients and
tenants, it follows that you'll have to make
some sacrifices, too went on Sir John,
but trifiing ones-notEing to what have
to do. My frients and tenants, Tee raised
yoeSr rents Jioe per cent. all aroatnd Now
shout for your Queen and country, and for
your landlords and protectors = -
''And they paid 20
''Of course they did, and were thankful
10 get off so cheap. Wasn't Sir John pay
ing a shilling in the pound for the country
all The time? o, you're very loyal racer'
''And so we are, Captain, and very font
of Queen Victoria; and we don't mind pay
ing for her, too, Captain-only what we've
paid before; it's the new things we don't
/ like, Captain. And what did Sir John do
when the war was over?''
''He forgot to take off the five per cent"
''Dear me! that was clever. Yes, | give
/ in to you there, Captain; Sir John was a
! very clever man. But we've got clever
men in these days, too, Captain"
But we were talking about intellect"
! said the Captain, after a pause, during
| which the coach had driven off, and the
/ square in front of the hotel had assumed
! its normal quietude. ''Now, to my mind,
| as far as intellect went, | never knew any
/ body to beat old David Gaur, of Penllyn."
/ ooh, come, Captain, now, that won't do.
/ Why, David was half an IDIOT
''That may be-" said the Captain. 'I
/ don't say he was clever all round. The
/ finest intellects have few somewhere;
/ but, in his particular way, David was the
/ cleverest man l ever knew"
''But, indeed, what ooas his way, Cap
tain? | never knew him TO do anything
/ but run about at fairs, and earn a sixpence
where he could
''What did you never hear of David
Gaur and the pig tax?'
'tNo, infect"
"Then You don't know half the tradi-
tions of your country. Why, Jones, l,
whom half an Englishman and have fol-
lowed the colors half over the world, I'm
better Welshman than you are. Why,
1 thought everybody knew about David
Gaur and the pigs
Tell it to us, Captain tell us the
story
''You know" said the Captain, hem
ming and stroking his moustache medita-
lively, ''that David had peculiar gift.
How he acquired it nobody ever knew; it
was said he was taught it by old Morris
J Morris, who lived to be a hundred and
J twenty, and that Morris's father had it
! from the fairies. But however he got it
doesn't matter-he had it; and as he never
( impaired tho eeeret, 1T .lied With 1ir, I
! offered him a sovereign once to show me
/ how he did it, and swore most solemnly
( I'd keep it profound secret. But no, L
wish I'd bid higher now; it would have
been something to fall back upon in ones
age, something that lawyer Jones couldn't
lay his claw upon"
s.But what was it, Captain? What was
the secret he had?''
''It was the a It of frightening pigs"
. said the Captain solemnly. ''Ah, now
don't go away with the idea that that's
nothing | don't mean startling 'em; any
fool with an umbrella can cry 'ShOO!
shoop and do that. But what l mean is
! downright frightening them, injecting
their very souls with fear; making them
mad, so that they'll jump out of their
very skins with terror. Now, you know,
! they're very imaginative beasts are pigs,
and at the same time they're very cum
1 ming. They're not to be taken in; and If
YOU were to make all the horrible noises
YOU could put your tongue to, they'd
! quietly whisk their tails and cock their
ewes, and thank you for your pains. But
this was how David went 20 work. You
know that Penlyn May Fair is tremen-
dous fair for pigs. They all come from
the north side of the county, and must
cross the bridge over the Dulas to get
there at all, and when they've crossed the
bridge there's long straight piece of
road. with grass on each side of it, and
high stone walls beyond the grass. Well,
here it was David would take his stand,
or seat rather, for he squatted himself
down in the grass, and then he made him
self a round hole, like a basin, foot
deep at the side of the road; and there
he'd sit from early daylight collecting his
tax ON the pigs. If there were less
than ten he charged a penny, and SO
David's tax; and very good tax-gatherer
he made. He wasn't always altering it,
moving it up and pulling it down; but
he put ON a reasonable figure, and stuck to