The Portland daily press., 1886-11-03
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.


once, we were told, but when nobody knows.
| A thing that was once dubbed new is called
new forever in England, even after forty
younger and fresher ones appear as its
rivals, since names like customs cling
with the greatest tenacity to old localities.
| This New Inn is two-fold affair, opening
its doors of hospitality on either side of the
street 1t is all up and down winding stairs.
AT the first peep into the sitting room the
visitor can hardly trust his own eyes, and
draws back, thinking he is ushering himself
into show room or curiosity shop. The
barmaid bids him enter, and when once in
| stalled in the cosy window-seat he looks
about him and finds the walls superabunr
dainty decorated with bric-a-brac and an
| tlques in china images and Dishes Upon
these are illustrated the seven ages of the
world, from the preadamic monsters, Adam
with most sheepish look taking the golden
apple from Eve, under the branches of wide
spreading yew, Pharaoh wrestling for dear
life with the Titanic waves Of the Red Sea,
little laughing Moses. cherubs and cherubim,
seraphs, saints and heroes, down to the pres
| emit day. The ceramic fever has been laid
| down in the list of contagious diseases; but
WIN tiiAo uUolCcc ~ appears 10 nave DSGQ u
| generic case, which has settled into chron-
ic disease of an incurable type, as she was
too far from the aesthetic world, where this
| epidemic thrives, to have been inoculated by
contact with its other victims. She was so
| violently smitten in the first attack that she
seems to have been impelled by some demon
to gobble up every odd dish and knicknack
| within her reach, until she had secured the
country for miles and tempted the house.
| wives to surrender for filthy lucre their an
| cestral mugs, punch bowls and china tea
caddies, which their forefathers had gath
| cred in their perilous voyages to the far off
Indies. This only whetted her appetite for
more, until to-day she fails to distinguish
choice bits, but absorbs everything, regard
less of shape, size or style. Her walls are
hung from dado to ceiling with gravy boats
and plates; the stairway, nantes, chimney
corners, and doorway inches are overlooking
with tea sets, much to the discomfort of the
guest, who goes tiptoeing about and glides
in and out edgeways, lest some flowing fold
or elbow akin shall bring down shower of
cups and saucers full of the good DANES
wrath upon his head. We were thankful to
depart without smashing any of her idols,
while we agreed with an English lady that
little more service, less sweet fern in the tea
| or chiccory in the coffee and fewer ceramics
would contribute more to the comfort of the
| guest. As we climbed at night up zigzag
stairway. we were forcibly reminded, by
blow on the head to bow the knee as we en-
tered the little door of our pigeon coop under
| the roof Here all the broken-nosed Jugs,
1 tod nd
manned animals were exiled from general So
ciety to adorn our mantle. The good house
wife appears to cling to them, however mu-
tilated and worthless their condition, with
the mothers tenderness for her weakling or
| deformed child Our host remarked that his
woman was never SO happy as when the
days arrived twice ecah year for her to wash
| all this stock of hardware
| AS we sat at our tiny window we looked
out npon the chimney pots, which stood up
like tenplhc upon the housetops, so close to
us that we could have crept from our sill
and walked from tile to tile to the end of the
village, without once descending to the
| ground. Once down on the beach, as we
| JOCK up this quaint hamlet, using one of our
harsh words, just fills the chinks of the gull
ley, or combe, as 1t is expressed in the more
poetic and euphonious Devonshire dialect.
The place is precisely as it was hundred
years ago, a new single or doorstep being
supplied when the old one has utterly re-
fused to keep out the storm or to bear its bur
den. The Fame family have owned it for
generations, and are to-day more bitterly
opposed than their ancestors to improve
ments. Fifty years since most of the ten
ants held long life leases and took delight
In their homely way in making their
homes attractive, but in the course of
time these leases have died out or been for
feited by debt, the new heirs refusing to re-
new them. To-day there is but one fisher
man, who holds his rent with security, or
who could spend a sovereign upon his
matched cot, with any confidence that he or
| his children would reap the benefit. This is
all very well to preserve the picturesqueness
of the place. but such narrow policy i'm
poyerishes the estate, and drives away the
young men, who have ambition to rise above
the position of boatmen or porters for the
| gentry and few tourists whose curiosity
brings them here for day or two in the sea-
son. In summer there is not competent
young man or maiden in the town, the old
women and mothers are left behind to tend
the babies, while the girls 60 abroad for en-
ployment, and the gray haired sirss and
small boys look after the herring fishing in
the cove. The exorbitant royalty imposed
by the manor house tariff has so seriously
cut down the profits that the fisheries for ex-
portation have dwindled to an insignificant
amount, and justly reacted. upon the inter-
ests of the lords themselves, who made these
laws. One wise old fisherman, who has
spent his life here, and reflected upon the
working of this policy of the landholders,
remarked, after mournfully descanting upon
the glory Of departed days at Clovelly, that
the steward showed that the present young
lady of the manor, after paying the bills for
unavoidable repairs, was as poor as the hum
best of her tenants. We were treated 10 de-
licious Deyonshire junket, nameless and
tasteless Wand in America, ever associated
from infancy with the stern prescriptions of
conyalescence. Here it is an historic dish,
generously spiced with old Jamaica and
spread with clotted cream, another Devon
shire specially, Just as our ancestral grand
mothers used to prepare it for the refresh
ment OF their distinguished guests. Doubt
less hereafter we shall discover in it latent
richness of flavor, which we might never
have tasted but for this visit The word
junketing with us has come to mean roll
licking good time from the old CUSTOM still
kept up, when the sailor lads and their
lassies go out to farm houses to pass the
evening in dancing and games, and the far
mers' good wives treat them with junket,
cider and apples. In this way many words,
which are unknown beyond limited areas in
England, are often called by Cockneys,
Americanisms or slang, when they really
originated in the Old Country, Since our
forefathers hailed from every section be-
tween Johnny Groats house to Lands End,
taking with them the idioms peculiar to each,
our vocabulary is broader than that of
any single locality in which the mother
tongue is spoken. A boating trip was made
around Hartland Point, where one can take
good look at Lundy's Island, haunt of the
wild sea birds. This is the post of the sub
marine telegraph at the mouth of the Bristol