Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-05
n Occasion for Any Amount of
Mystery and Queer Celebration.
Id CUSTOMS STILL OBSERVED.
vents Decidedly Illustrative Of the Char.
acter of the People.
HUNDREDS ALWAYS In ATTENDANCE

C-ouS Ne6SlNlSc SCeHiC ClOfN.
The moorlands stretch doiorously as if in
oundless loneliness The tors or hills are
leak and bare The whole face of nature
ems torn and Scared as if by tremendous
emental struggles. Yet all these caverns
ld chasms which disfgure it were made by
the hand of man. Its granite, shale and
slate hide copper, tin and iron. For more
than 5000 wears its surface has been cleft,
and its depths gored and bored, until its
face is pitted rs if with extinct volcanoes
Toward st. Georges Channel at the north
west and the English channel at the south
east, innumerable valleys and tiny burns
slope toward and cut through the walls by
The sea, everyone discharging limpid
streams, which go whirling, foaming and
singing to the sea. Along the sides of these
lovely combes are the quaint old homes, the
rich acres, the ample ricks of grain and the
sleek herds of The sturdy farmers Of Corn
wall Tramp these coast roads but a mile,
YOU suddenly stumble upon these lovely
vales-the stream and the farm half hidden
by glorious foliage d otting the sides far up
ilfa combe as eve can reach; here rumbling
old mill there a nesting church: below you
she quaint old village; beyond, the tiny
haven skirted by the homes of fishers, and
speclled by queer fishers craft; further, the
tide plVuching up between massive haven
walls, or a stretch of low-tide rock and
drift; and at last the bright blue sea.
Three Kinds of People in Cornwall.
So there are three kinds of folk and life
n Cornwall The mines and miners largely
,ccupv the barren interior Between these
md the coast are the farms and farmers of
the tiny combes and wales. And everybody
ON the coast is fisherman, fshwife, or in
some way profits from the endless harvest
ing OF the deep. Yet these Cornish folk are
all one They are one in sentiment and ira
dition: in everyday life and custom; in
countless quaint and curious superstitions;
in dislike and distrust of every English per-
son and thing outside of Cornwall; and
thew are one in an almost universal piety.
They are nearly all methodiSts of the first,
firm sort They are all God-fearing, spook-
believing, honest-dealiEg folk, who believe
that liquor is as good for the body as is re-
ligion for the soul; scrimping neither; in
dulCinC in neither TO excess; and withal
savoring their rugged, everyday lives with
q mutual helnfulness that is noble and a
generous hospitality to the right meaning
stranger which knows no bounds.
Having been much among these simple
and sturdy people, L have been greatly i'm
pressed hv the often mournful and almost
stern manner in which their olden customs
are preserved. Change is unknown in
Cornwall 1t is regarded in the nature of
desecration. The changeless pursuits of the
people for thousands, not hundreds, of
wears, mining, farming and fishing. largely
account for this. Besides, Cornwall has
few large towns. People live in miners
cottages. farmhouses and fishers huts,
l. ,s..1- IL hn halt
haps a score, in tiny hamlets. In these
Cornish life NAV be seen to-day precisely as
it has remained for hundreds of years.
PscuIiarities of Cornish Funerals.
P1<gfaps there is no event among these
lie more illustrative of character, traits
I'D 4h9 peculiar cherishing of mournful |
customs than the Cornish funeral Nowork |
is done for half score of miles round |
about on funeral days. All festive or politi- |
cal occasions fail to draw together such |
Cornish crowds as the burial of the lowliest |
man or woman of Cornwall The assem- |
blaCes never number less than MANY hun |
dreds, and usually comprise many thou |
sands of cousin Jacks" as all Cornish |
men are called and all call each other; |
while the burial of a Cornish farmer, miner |
or fisherman will often attract far greater |
crowds than that of the greatest and noblest |
1
on funeral occasions, in 1870 the body oc |
Praze miner who had emigrated 10 Colorado |
and had been accidentally killed in one of
the mines of that State, was brought back !
here for burial The entire population of
Cornwall is less than 500 900 souls, vet more |
than 100 900 Cornish folk attended this |
funeral. or nearly ten times the number that |
gathered at the funeral ceremonies of the |
late Lord St. Aubyn.
Every little hamlet has its carpenter and |
Joiner From time immemorial this person. |
age has possessed extraordinary dignity |
from the fact that, bv favor and custom, he |
is also the undertaken. His shop, which is |
also his home, where his apprentice lives |
with him, is regarded with extreme awe. 1t |
contains the funeral tackle the necessary |
implements for burial, which have been |
handed down through generations, and in |
whose preservation himself and his wife ex- |
ercise and display extraordinary anxiety |
and pride. The people are universally su- |
perstitious regarding all these articles, and |
il any are accidentally seen lying about, |
they exhibit genuine awe and fear In fact |
thev are intensely and hereditarily keen in |
all death portents, attach the greatest sig |
nifcance to the slightest token, and, it is |
raid. can ''smell funeral from Bodmin to |
Perzance."
Coffin yarnish Acts as a Magnet.
At the discovery of the faintest aroma of |
coffin varnish in any Cornish hamlet, every
body is astir. Men and women gather in
the streets: and women rush into each |
others house with the welcome-mournful |
news.
''Oa jimmy the breathless visitor will
gasp 'Tommy's (the joiner) maxi box,
youn'
"You" is added to nearly every converse
tional exclamation, inquiry, answer or SEN
teDce in Cornwall
''Howst ee knaaw, you?"
''Cos't ee smell un.''
The Joiner is quite as keen in keeping in
formed regarding the progress of any neigh
borhood illness. and is not likely to be
caught unprepared when his services are
finally required; for there is not only 80
,hillings or a trife over seven American
dollars, TO be got for the ordinary Cornish
coffin, but death ushers in the joiner's abso-
late reign for at least As hours. During
thar period he is the undertaken, the great
est man in Cornwall; and in all commands
and behests no Gar was ever more i'm
plicitly obeyed.
But he cannot provide against accidents in
the mines. If in the night time knocking
is heard at his door his good wife, jimmy is
he first 10 waken, with Tommy, sum-
,udy's Iscll be dead. Go t dooar.''
Descending, ne meets the swarthy ''paird-
ler' Of the dead miner with solemn WIS.,
.ge, calculating the while if the lumber and
.oain furniture are ready, when this brief
,ut comprehensive colloquy may be heard:
''Wass q matter, coden (cousin) Jack,
-ou?"
Thee cosn't guess whose dead, you"
ono. no. coden Jack: who es a?''
Jacks Billy's dead you. Hawl (hole
l.. aaf ohnpt - |