Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-17

be had BY paying for it before it was eaten.
But the latter could not be got for any
| wheedling or sum Of money. They would
bluntly tell me to find an inn. If pro-
fessed ignorance of the locality Of one, they
would 20, or send someone, with me. al
ways dismissed my escort before the place
was reached, determined to pass the nights
in the homes of the lowly.
This sort of procedure and conversation
with others than farmers upon the subject,
gradually developed the fact that Cornish
great body of Cornish people. They are .
species of gentry" in the minds of the
latter. Though only tenant farmers, their
holdings are large for England, from 20 to
100 acres, and have been occupied for gen.
erations by the same families on SO years
leases. They often 60 to "Lunnon, and
their children are sent to Truro for school,
ing. They are stanch supporters of the
Established Church, while the masses are
Wesleyana
People Who Are Ever Hospitable.
But the fisher and mining folk are un-
equivocally hospitable. The fisherman will
take care of you in his little cottage with
out question, without locking thing in his
habitation against you, but still with
dumb sort of quiescence The miner is
more rough and ready fellow, and if not
always hearty about it, settles the matter
for or against you at once. All this the
literary tramp will quickly discover; and I
shortly began directing my diplomacy
toward the ordinary home in the mining
villages.
You will find them through nearly all the
length of Cornwall from Liskesrd to
Penzance, and they are seldom clustered in
dirty villages contiguous to the mines as
in our country. I do not recall . single in
stance of this sort during my entire journey
ing. Two, three, four, q half dozen and
sometimes a score, may be found together.
They are in all sorts of odd and out-of-the-
way places on the roads and of. Like the Irish
cabins, they are oftenest at the back, in
stead of at the front, of somewhere or any
where. Nearness to mine seems to possess
no advantage.
The furniture of the "Cousin Jacks"
home, though scant, is honest and useful.
gular iron on legs, on which, usually over
furze fires, the kettles boil, the circular cast
iron "baker" and cover are set, and the fish
or meat, when they can be INDUCED in, is
"scrowled" or grilled There are perhaps
four chairs. These will have solid ms
hoganv frames, but the seats are of painted
pine and are wa1ed weekly. These four are
''best," and are all the best For every
day use one or two "frms" or rude benches
are provided.
Furniture OF Original Design.
The single table is of pine. one top COM
ng flush with the sides, the other, detached,
TWO inches thick, one side unpainted and
secured snowy white daily with ''growder,"
/ rotten granite which lathers like soap,
Ind the other side painted for Sunday or
company" use, and drawer beneath for |
,ude cutlery. The table ware is something |
startling in cheap goods, and each member
If the family is provided with . real |
tilt band. Two or three rude engravings,
of Scriptural subjects in cheap |
,aken frames, such as the village carpenter
nay make, with the beds and bedding under
he thatch, complete the furniture of the
miners cottage.
For his class aud means he is generous
liver. Soups and stews are consumed by
he gallon. For his breakfast, If he is out
# the mine, 'tmawther,'' the wife, will
,rovide the usually villainous "tay" con-
umed by the English and Irish working
lasses, infrequently an egg, perhaps bit
Cornish favorite apparently
evoid of everything but sweet and color,
nd, may be, bread without butter) and
L
'butter-sops," stale bread scalded and
easoned meagerly. At noon, or for the
nine ''croust" or lunch, there sfe
'taty pasties,,' or potatoes and vagrant
neat scraps inclosed in crescent
haped crust, interchangeable with
'fggy .pasties," the same as .'taty
'asties," with few raisins added. "hog
ans or round pork-pies, and flag
ans" tough crust cakes SO hard, at least
n Cornish renown, that they would not
reak if hurled down a 1000 fathom mine
halt For supper, "croust," that is, lunch
t any sort left over from the days pro-
isions, or perhaps "baker O taties,"
hich means mashed potatoes fried in
rease, turned and Drowned, and cut in as
lany segments as there are members of the
Imily, may be provided The one big
unday meal, however, is seldom lacking
/ a generous supply Of boiling meat, and
J every cottage has its acre or half-acre
arden, there is always. in summer, a
ountiful supply of vegetables in the
ornish miners home.
EDGAR l. WAKEMAN