Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-25

the Solway F rth, at Bowness, I can point out half-scCre of these 80 old that car wings and sltars dug from the nearly sev- enteen hundred years old Roman wall of Severus, are built into fre-places and out side walls. Of these dalesmens' cottages Wordsworth, himself born among them, says: "Hence buildings, which in their very form call to mind the processes of nature, do thus, clothed in part with vegetable garb, appear to be received into the bosom of the living principle of things, as it acts and exists among the woods and fields"
 Precisely as in Wordsworth's time, out side the Cumbrian cottages you will find the shade of sycamores and "tan fir through which the winds sing when other trees are leafiess;" 6 little orchard; an ample herb-bed; a near Till or spring
 spout with its ceaseless wimple; a comedy garden; comfortable stone out-buildings for grain and for winter housing of the COWS and the tiny but hardy Cumbrian sheep; and always the shed for the hives of beeves which distill from the mountain heath the darkest, but ever the sweetest
 honey in the world Their interiors are no less characteristic. Standing in the door ct any one, your eyes may again trace, in the antiquities of utensils and furnishings, a complete museum of rustic household evolution from the stone age to our own age of Brummagem and brass; for you will find the queen, old as Aryan life, the ancient Celtic mother or drinking cup, the rudest and earliest make of spin ning-whee with delft of the first English kilns varied by many faulty bits of
 "Wedgewood," brought here from Staff fordshire by hawking gipsies; and min
 gled with these various tawdry household ornaments and utensils of the present time.
 Cumbrian peasants are as a rule "house- proud;" and in years of wandering among the lowly of European countries I have
 never come upon any rustic folk the inte- rior of whose habitations were such shin ing examples of homely comfort and rest fulness. There are of course exceptions. Now and then you will find settlements like Watendlath, hid among the fells be- tween Borrowdale and Thirlmere, where may be seen all the sodden squalor occa- sionally met among the Scottish west coast crofters and in the Irish west-coast fishing villages. Their houses are dark and dirty, the floors uneven, the furniture crazy, the men clad in ragged fustian and the woman in coarse wool and wooden clogs. These are sheep -herders under 6 later sort of teudaism. In every such case the history is that their fathers before | them sold their little "estates" to the en- | croaching land-grabbers, and their chil- | dren are consequently to-day in precisely | the wretched serfdom wrought by land | Iordism in the Scottish Highlands and in | Ireland. But with the hsbitations of statesmen" the interiors are charming. The floors are usually of the same huge slstes as those covering the roof. They are scrubbed and cleaned until they shine like dusky mirrors. Frequently you will II c | fireplace, decorated with white, ochre and vermilion chalk in figures and scroll work embodying strange fancies in rustic | art. The hving-room or "fire-house," as it is called, is always very large for cot tage, often from eighteen to twenty-five feet square, low, but with the richest of
 old and polished beams in the ceiling. In,
 deed old oak may be found in profusion.
 The long, solid table with benches at the
 side, where the "statesman," his family ! and all servants sit together st meals; the
 @long settle'' or two-yard long seat at one
 side of the fireplace, and the "sconcen or
 bench on the other, under which the
 nights fuel, called Ian elden,n is placed
 the chairs, huge and high, and requiring (
 strong arm to move them; the high, mar ! now, sprawling-legged bureaus; the many
 iron or brass bound chests; the beds hug
 and strong enough to hold giants, fol
 these Cumbrisns are often tremendous iI
 stature;-are all of oak, curiously carved
 and often wondrously polished. All thii
 is sometimes varied by pieces of mahogs ny almost as unique as can be found | among the peasant-homes of Brittany | From this large, clean "fire-house" or liv
 ing-reom there are in all directions invi
 ting vistas through wide, low doors ana
 cosy stone '1eantos," perhaps each bull
 in different century, to tiny-psned win
 dows, splayed like turret-windows, whit,
 with inner curtains, and in summer ablaz'
 with outer bud and blossom.
 The dialect of the district, which car
 only touch upon, is very curious, and con
 tains many pure Celtic, Morse, old Eng fish and foreign words The afix "ment
 is in constant use, providing added quan tity or emphasis. Ointment thus be
 comes a collection of dirt, and "shame
 ment" increased contempt in the expres sion of shame. A bull "beels," instead O
 bellows. Anything crooked is ''canmed.
 'Sad" is heavy, and ''sad-cake" is on , made without rising" and is all its nam
 implies. A road is "wad;" and a youn pig, instead of a boy, is called an ''ur ,, chin" A "hadderyH day is drizzlin !, day. A dancing night is a ''tansy::" n doubt from the German tanz. One who's
 actions make him byword is "bysen, and short, thiek-set man is "botchy. ! "To few'' is to fare, or to arrange. 'Dsl l is the expletive form of ''The Devill'' bI . "donnetn is the devil himself, or one | 2 better than the devil. When one is owe Il tired from labor he is "thewed."
 "sauntern is not to struggle or daily, bI - to meditate; and if you are "boggar 8 owned" you are destined or fated to @ given over to some evil spirit. Bad, 10 '- tering boys are "Driving- -sneevils," that i | -c IL, asl h and poor ''bandylan" is an unfortuna s lass 'sbanned from the land," or drive e from home fellowship. "A cope" is W jockey dealing in worthless horses; "ba @ gin" is food; and the "singing hinny" is o hot cake baked for tea. Arriving at one house is Handing hosme." A ''scro, n molly O eggs" is & dish of scrambled egg d If you accidentally overheard your pea J. ant host speaking of you to his wife as IS ''terrible" or fearful sonny mon," e would only mean a compliment; but if r. spoke of you as a 'bonny pistol" yC y could understand yourself to be regard 1T as an arrant knave.
 l. Village and home life are very simI r. and uneventful. Each little community 8, sufficient unto itself because of the u ,e broken custom of never ''hiving of g. The younger shoots of the family grow to beside the old. Entire valleys are foul l. peopled by statesmen" of the same fan IS ly and name, pronounced acquiremer d. physical peculiarity or location of habit re ton, such as "Jock the Russler" (wre SC ler), "Padish-tnop (porridge-tub) Ben" Id t'Dick O tn Rigg," providing ample d he tinction. Courtship is carried on in of primitive and vigorous way that wou of shock modern delicacy, but all manner he matings remain firm and true. Marriae re provide extraordinary festivals, and, aft rs the feast, numberless useful offerir he