Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-13
BOYS OF CORNWALL.
As Recklessly Daring a Set Of Young
sters as Can Be Found.
SOME OF THEIR ODD ADJUSTMENTS.
Never Allowed to Think Themselves Pro-
fcient in Anything,
THEY YET NANAGET TO HAVE GOOD TIMES
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH. ,

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH,
CRowAN, CORNWALL, Nov. 3o-It is
talk and a scat," as Cornish folk then
selves say, that is, word and blow, an
oftener the blow first, in the discipline {
Cornish children, and particularly Cornis
boys
The girls of Cornwall give nobody troubl
in early life. They are little automatons i
youth, silent as pagan stone circles in girl
hood, voiceless and blushing thereafter unit
welded, when they at once develop sucl
strength Of character, temper and tongu
that half the men of Cornwall are know
individually as "Jinny's jack" and il
raillery are greeted with the inquiry:
.'How's the woman as owns 'ee?"
Whether or not the boys require rougl
treatment, they get it. They seem to ex
pect it And they thrive under it. They
are all boys of parents who labor severely
and whose fathers before them for more
than thousand years have drudged and
striven in the same sturdy way. Sentiment
In child-training is here unknown. A drill
hammer, o hob-nsiled boot, or huge fist
goes along smartly with the reprimand.
Disobedience is almost unknown. When
ever it occurs 1t is a nine-days' wonder to
the entire village. Recently I witnessed
an instance in a mining village. Amin er
had given his boy command.
81 went do'tl' replied the lad stoutly.
''Tha wusn't, eh? Well, if thee
doesn't, I'll give tn thump in the nudeck
(back of the neck)"
The words were not out of the fathers
mouth before he had knocked the boy sense
less by blow in the ''nudeck" No one
expressed surprise at the treatment, and the
boy was left where he fell until his senses
returned, when he marched straightway to
carry ous his fathers command. But the
sstonishment and horror at the boys dis
obedience set the entire village in an up
roar.
Boys Not Allowed to Get Fresh.
The Cornish bov is not permitted to i'm
agine himself profci mt. One boy know,
apprenticed to his grandf sther, the village
joiner and undertaken, had mads q little
dOve-tsiled box with hinges, lock and key,
In which to store his pennies and other boy
treasures He was naturally proud of the
achievement, and asked the old man if the
work was not well done. The latter i'm
mediately proceeded to kick the too-aspir-
ing lad from one end of the village to tho
other.
As rule our American boys have q keen
ambition to do, be, or possess something,
and are encouraged in such ambition. I
cannot find trace of this in Cornwall Still,
in their way and within their rigorous con-
ditions of life, the boys of Cornwall are per-
haps as ioliv lot and secure as much rough,
boyish enjoyment as the lads of any other
country in the world. Their costume from
the age of 4 to about 10 is peculiar, and gives
them the appearance of rudely dressed girls
bafr faa ehod i+h oh hnh
over which short, coarse wooden stockings
are always hanging. A bare reach of shin
intervenes between these and the canvas and
corduroy trousers Over the latter is
skirt, as with the boys of the West of Ire
land, reaching to the knees. Trousers and
skirt hang from rough woolen waist; and
over all is loose "savel," or save-all, of
canvas or coarse muslin, something after the
pattern of short smock frock. The head
gear is supplied by the discarded caps or
billy-cock hats of fathers, with the best of
ventilation always provided
Cornish Boys Never Lonesome.
The Cornish boy, either while skirted or
when he has reached the corduroy age, is
never lonesome in his little labors or in his
various sturdy pastimes. All Cornish folk
live in communities, move about in groups,
and even emigrate in crowds. Cornish fish
ers live in villages; miners are universally
found in little mining towns; and from three
or four to dozen farmers with their stead
ings and tiny farmhouses are huddled close
together. So there are score of young
Cousin Jacks" in the smallest hamlets;
and the advantage and pleasure of numbers
are invariably possessed. Their few enjoy
ments are thus the heartier; their royster-
ipgs the mora boisterous; and their oppor-
tunity for that ceaseless round of harmless
mischief which is the crowning glory of all
true and healthy boyhood, is delightfully."-
increased.
Indeed the most marked Characteristic of
the Cornish boy is his endless participation
in mischief. 1t never goes the length of
brutality and harm; but it is as though his
whole year were mild form of Halloween
license.
The games and pastimes of Cornish boys
are distinctive, and are markedly different
from those of boys of the same quality else
where in England For instance, football,
the universal boys game of England, is
altogether unknown in Cornwall Cricket
ing is only kept up through the continued
efforts of the Church of England curates.
But kite-fying is a passioa with all Cornish
boys. 1t even extends to men. / have seen
manv a miner after hia long days toll
'below grass" seated upon some old pagan
ing his short pipe, and in kind of grave
rapture flying a kite taller than himself, in
an endeavor to outdo similar achievement
on the part of his own boy and other village
lads
Two Games That Are Universal
Two Cornish boys games are universal,
endless and very ancient These are toe
stones" and "cob-nutting." The first is
played in all open roads, paths and streets,
and the second, in any place under Cor
nish skies where two rival lads can secure
room enough in which to crouch down and
swing their stout little arms. In ''toe-
stones" diagram, similar to the one
chalked on deck for 'iship billiards, with q
rounded end like that of a bagatelle board,
is drawn in the road; and the game con-
sists of kicking with the left foot, the right
foot being always held in the right hand a
round fiat stone from the approaching line
from one space to another, but never over
but one line, clear around the entire 13