Morning journal and courier., 1891-12-12

I some old pagan menhir or tor above his village home, smoking his short pipe, and in kind of grave rapture flying a kite taller than himself, in an endeavor to out do similar achievement on the part of bis own boy and other village lads. Two Cornish boys games are universal, 1 endless and very ancient. These are "toa- stones" and ''cob-nutting." The first is I played in all open roads paths and streets and the second in any place under Cornish skies where two rival lads can secure room enough in which to crouch down and swing | their stout little arms In ''toe- stones m a | diagram, similar to the one chalked on deck for "ship- billiards" with a rounded end like that of a bsgatelle board, is drawn in the road; and the game consists of kick | ing with the left foot the right foot heinz always held in the right hand, a round flat st' le from the approaching line from one | space to another, but never over but one line, clear around the entire thirteen | spaces, and out again, without once having dropped the right foot. The little fellows become wonderfully expert in this difficult | feat.
 "Cob-nutting" is an all-the-year-round | sport. Much of its zest comes from the dangers in securing the nuts necessary for the years supply. Common hazel-nuts are used. These are got at great risks | The prizes, with the ''shucks" still on, are stored away in the attic and dried with the greatest care, so that the nut-fibre be comes hard and horny. The hazel-nuts are allowed to literally fall ont of their | sheaths. All the round, smooth, ripe. shiny nuts are sacredly preserved for "cob-nutting." It is often Cornish boys entire winter employment and diversion to prepare the cob-nut for the rest of the | haft1a Snr Eaf lows. The sport takes its nsme from the "cob" or shell of the nut.
 The cob-nuts are prepared by boring s | hole through each side of the nut, remov- ing the kernel, and filling the hollow shell with lead or shoemaker's wax, the latter being preferred. The shoemaker of the village is consequently an almost revered parsonage with all Cornish boys. A | ''waxed-end" drawn through the loaded "cob" or shell, and held by a strong knot. completes the cob-nut; and you cannot find A boy in all Cornwall who has not one | ready strung for contest, and a pOcketful ready for stringing for reserve cOntingen- | cies.
 Then there is always the 'cob-nutter" champion to vanquish, which is the con stant effort of all other boys of the will lage. A lad envious of his honors will si- de up to this champion with, | | "'Yss thee's a mind to-" is the re5oin- der; and at it they go. squatiing wherever the spirit of battle overcomes them. Ties | are drawn for frst "crack" The loossr throws his hat upon the ground and lays his cob-nut in 8 little hollow on its top Then the "cobberT or striker, holding his | cob between the ends of the fingers of his left hand and the end of the attached | waxed-end in his right, after many feints. I almost the force of bullet upon his op- ponent's. One or the other is seated" or broken. It is turn and turn about. Gen | erally one of the lads has his entire stock of reserve cobs destroyed. The victor driiy remarks,
 "Wass think of un now!'
 | Here, my son. ar;en't through. Wait | a minute wust ee,"
 He rushes to a friend for another supply with,
 Here, Jack, lend us one O tha cob nuts, wust eeg''
 "Wass matter withaF'
 | "Ers smocken sll items Ef thees give me thine I'll scat ee!'
 And so this Cornish game of cob-nuts has gone on since good King Arihur's time Another game or psstime of Cornish boys is the Long Hunt" distinct from, but bearing some resemblance to, the | English boys at Rugby and elsewhere. Moonlight nights are selected for this stu | dy and often grewsome sport A Head CT" is chosen by the following counting out rhyme, heard everywhere among Cor nish boys and girls:
 Ire, ore. igery. eben-
 Eat a bone, crack a bone ten or eleven; Spin, span. m lSt be done.
 | Three times seven are tNenty-one-on tout.
 He is given start or one hundred, counted aloud. He leads the followers | into every weird and ghostly lane, by de- serted mines, through grsveyards, and ev- anywhere his daring and ingenuity can take his own strong legs. He is ''leader" every night until he succeeds in eyading capture, when the same contingent pro- cess is repeated.
 "Rook day" is one of the happiest days of the year for Cornish boys. Lords of manors throw open their forests and parks one day of each year. in the autumn, for wholesale slaughter of rocks Aside from their participation in this battle with the
 rocks, they enjoy these grand English for ests as only boys can, and succeed in car
 rying away great quantities of beech-nuts
 for winter hreside cheer. Besides the
 young rocks make capital pies, and the
 boys go home from this days glorious out
 ing to what is to them one of the grandest
 feasts of the year.
 Among the forbidden, dangerous and
 therefore most prized delights of Cornish
 boys are "bush-besting" and the "starling
 hunt" The former is a mild form of
 posching among the copse-wOods and fir
 forests of the demesnes. Great coats,
 lanterns and clubs are the only outfit re-
 quired. Blackbirds and grsy-birds, both
 of which make famous pies, are taken.
 They are knocked from their perehes by
 well-directed blows and the more expert
 bush -beater will take bird from its perch
 with his hand, killingit before it can make
 an outcry-
 The ''starling hunt" has its grewsome and doleful features. During the winter
 storms thousands of stsrlings will repair ! at night to the shelter of the old Norman . tower of each parish church. The boys
 know this. Some one of them is a mem !, | Der of the change-ringeTs, is a choir boy, or is in some way situated 20 that he car secure the church-key. It is perilous and
 ghostly business climbing up there among , the bells. But they do it, taking along
 with them sacks and baskets for theil
 game, and any material with which they , can cover the stone shutters agsin>t th'
 exit of the birds Then the slaughter be , l gins The starlings shriek and clamol even above the bowling of the storm, fire '. | ouently tearing the marauders' hands AnC | faces frightfully in their mad efforts to es cape. Hut not one is left alive: and ' have known of six bushels of these hap less starlings being thus taken in on, 4 night.
 a There are many other ways and occA !: sions whereby Cornish boys find rude ani s hearty psstime. Christmas is fesst-dA, a pure and simple. The Christmas bun i A then their acme of delight. Esch parisl 6 also has its annual parish feast-day, whel d friends from other parishes come, and al |. the Cornish games are played with won s drous zest. In Whitsun' week come tn "a "vagrom men," with their wild beas .t shows from London. and from an imme h morial custom all the lads go out for mile V with cudgels and horns to escort the Eva
 groms" into the village. Then there sr e Taking Sunday" at Clowance Park, anI l. Mazard Fair at Prszs, and Furry day 8 e Helston, and the great fires of St. John s day, when the old pagan blood asserts il If self and leaps in their veins as they jurn l. through the blazing rings or dance wit if lighted torches fiariDg and flaming abOv v- their heads
 l. But in time the working g-days begin IS The boys gre st once installed As fathers st '1abbots," or helpers, in the mines. The bring swab-sticks and water for swabbin l. the drill holes: take the dulled drills sbov A ground to the blacksmith shops for sharp l. ening and return them; bring the "crousi n or lunch to their fathers when the "touch D. pipe" or rest and bit of food are taken r, help shovel and wheel ore to the .1skip: ar learn to ''twist the drill" and then |