Morning journal and courier., 1889-10-19


terry. Hence the old lines:
If the husband of this gifted well
Shall drink before his wife.
happy man thenceforth is he,
But if the wife shall drink of it first,
God help the husband then!-etc.
Taking off the hat to magpie wards away
bad luck. No miner will permit whistling in
a mine, as it offends the "knockers;" while
fishermen would throw man overheard whe
would whistle at sea after nightfall. Killing
the first butterfly of the season brings good
luck. If the limbs of a corpse remain flexi.
BILE another member of the deceased's family
will shortly die. A black cats tail passed
over child's sore eyes nine times will effect
a cure. The croak of raven over the house
bodies death. Children born in May are May
schets," and will never have luck. A per-
jurer will never again see the color of the
sunlight. A milpriye. or adder stone, will
prove an antidote to the poison of that rep
tile. At midnight on Christmas Eve all the
oxen of Cornwall may be found on their
knees in the attitude of alteration. If one
touches Logan or rocking stone nine times
at midnight he instantly becomes witch.
In the fishing hamlets If a fish be eaten from
''head to tail'' all the fish will be driven from
the coasts, And you are no true Cornish
man if you will not assert that the ship
wrecked dead "hail" or call aloud their
names above the roaring of the storms along
the coast.
The entire disappearance of the Cornish
language has occurred since the reign OF
Elizabeth. The centennial of the last ser
mon preached in Celtic at Landewedneck
(the white rooted church of ST. Wedneck was
celebrated In 1878. Even at the beginning
of this century divers old folk could be found
who were constantly moaning, "Cornoack
eve all ne cea yer yen poble younk;" Ger
nish is all forgot with the young people,"
Al - -, ;,e eksn - oh,
| in expressions wholly without meaning to
one unwilling to patiently observe, delve and
study. Every elderly person is called Gun
Gle" or "Aunt," the latter. shortened to
| "Ann." Mother is amawther;" father is
| 'fayther." Ali intimate acquaintances are
| ssCousin Jrck or JAM" and nearly every CON
| versational query or answer terminates with
"T' las core by day, you" The ''yep" of
the rapid American man or boy, meaning
.yes," or anything else, has its counterpart
| in the universal Cornish "Uncel" termina-
ting in an inverted whistle. 1t means as
| sent, doubt, surprise or anything else at that
AIRY, cheel veanF' means, "How are you,
friendf' The ''clacker" is the tongue; and q
"crowder" is fiddler. SOW do ee fadgeF
is Chow are you getting along?" "Hoozy" Il
hoarse; "I' facks, )" is "In faith" "a brave
courant,"a splendid time; ''gcod havage,
of good blood; ''drinkin' mahogany" is tax
ing gin and treacle; and ga knaws TIM" (he
knows TIM is the highest compliment Cor
nishman is capable of conceiving.
Among people of such antiquity, isola-
tion, meager and sharply defined pursuits
there cannot but be found two striking char
acteristics. One is their extraordinary clan
nishness and loyalty to each other; and the
other, an obetinate clinging to old and priced
custbms. The monument to the great Gam
| IL, u,ft1 Sfond m
long as his own famous couplet, written
three centuries since:
| ''By Ire, Ros Pol, Ian, Caer and Len,
! You may know the most of Cornish men,"
He might also have added places; for nine-
tenths of the names of Cornish places, as
we'll as of individuals and families, con.
tanned, or still contain, these roots and pre-
fixes. Ire, answering to the Saxon tun,
means an enclosure; Ros, heath; Pol, q
pool; Caer, a defended place; and Pen, q
head. All this filtering through antiquity.
and peoples folk lore, in time became some
thing Of a shibboleth. shortened anally to
ssTre, Pol and Pen," further intensified and
treasured by the Cornish national toast of
"Tres, Psls and Pens-One and ALT" Then
to still further intensity the feeling of ma
tional indivisibility, along in the reign of
James II. came the famous ballad of "Trel-
awney," one electrifying euatrain of which
will be roared forth in iresiGe, social and
| pOllkICht SOuS ds lOuS d5 q SOahAoh AkA0A
with a voice, is left "above grass" to do it.
The origin of the song was in the incarcera.
ton and prosecution for seditious libel OF
the Archbishop of Canterbury and six Other
bishops in 1858, because they refused the
reading of royal declaration of indulgence
for liberty of conscience. The good Bishop
Trelawney was one of these offenders. He
was q Corniahman besides. Instantly all
Cornwall rang with
UAnd vii tbev scarn 7re Pol and PEN
And shall Treawney die9
There's twenty thousand underground
Il Will know the reason why!"
And this shout of the wild "twenty thou,
sand" miners of Cornwall had more to dc
than all else with the acquittal and victorious
return of Trelawney and his peers.
With such loyalty to each other, nevel
failing of expression at home, and, If posi-
BILE, more admirable and faithful in the
sturdy and priced groups that may be found
thousands of miles from their loved homes
in the copper mines of the Superior region,
in the silver mines of Colorado, or in thu
sitting pits of Australia, it is not surprising
that such people cling tenaciously to tn
:. strangest of olden customs. I would like tt
write fully of these; but have only spac'
, in which to name few of those which occu
to me as the most interesting. In SOM
, districts pail Of cider containing roasted
r apples is taken into the orchard and dranl
, to the good health of the apple trees whicl
are thus wassailed. On nearly all farm
, notice is given that harvest is ended b.
, | "crying the neek." A small sheaf of tn
! best heads of wheat is gathered by some oil
, man, who, as he raises it aloft three times, i
greeted by the reapers with great cheers AM
jollity, after which some kissing Of the girl
!, and other harmless frolicking are indulge
/ in. A comfortable apple market Is sustaine
on Allen day before Halloween at st. I've
a from the sale of apples for apple pies to b
! hidden under pillows by lads and maiden
on Halloween night. 'tFurry day." or Flor
4 day has for centuries been observed in thi
i old town by all manner of musical frivoli
ties, gathering of flower and fruit blossoms
. and dancing in and out of houses throughou
the entire day and evening, in which festivi
ty old and young, rich and poor, alik
radiantly join "Vagrum Fair" or vagrar
!, fair, is sort Of wild midnight hullabaloo G
d boys and men with clubs, bells and whistle
q in which travelling wild beast shows, ,passin
q from one town to another during Whitsu,
q week, are received and escorted from GU
" hamlet to another; and the clubs are car,
- fully preserved as trophies of a sort {
v defensive and protective idea of most az
!. cient origin. May day, as through othe
: portions of England, is watched" for a
"a night and ushered in with all manner G
Y shrill musieal instruments. At st. Ives o
!. Shrovs Tuesday professions OF boys deman
n and secure pancakes and hapennies at a
10 houses where they may apply; while {
d Penzance, and indeed at nearly all village
4 of west Cornwall, on the ewes of the festiva
l. of St. John and st. Peter, the ceremony {
d lighting fires and carrying torches throug
- the streets has for centuries been observes
IA and is unquestionably remnant of the paga
j. Irish la ma Bealtina; or the day of Baal fire
.. EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.
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