The record-union., 1892-07-02

louhd IN the present church. They were
the work of the then village blacksmith,
handye and devoute man." who
carved the oak Of the benches and choir
stalls, not emitting TO carve the forge, the
peliows, hammer and nails and pincers
OF MS own sturdy craft He threw in a
lalr supply of Tudor roses, monks and
angels. but, as Saints Andrew and Peter
are appropriate patrons OF the church
Where countless thousands of fisher folk
have worshiped, the good smith also put
lnem INTO every conceivable beneficial
attitude, and, as if to intensity their pro-
0ecIlon OF the town Of st. Ives and its peo-
| PIE, also woye fishes, saints and ara
| Desques into most generous and profuse
relationship
III these wood carvings are curious stud
ieS some OF those IN stone are equally out
| iiilulsh. There are stone grOtesques
whose equals IN strange and meaning
less hldeousneSs can hardly be found else
"hefe IN Europe. Seven represent mock
ing, IeerlnG faces Of men and beasts.
Two are distending their mouths with
their fingers and protruding their
tongues. One is most horrible figure of
an ape. and another wears a FOOLS cap of
| the period
The stranger will be impressed with
the extraordinary elevation of the soil of
the tiny churchyard. When the place
was first quite filled with the dead, the
burial place was covered over with sew
eral feet OF sand, and interment went on
anew. Three times this was done, when
IL was finally found that to have repeated
the process would have been to bury the
church itself, when a cemetery was Sc
cured upon the nights.
History. tradition and legend have
| carved some grim pictures upon the dim
background of the past in this old Cor
nlsh usher town. One historical fact will
/ In Trfag g2Tafl llUre1N
lSh uprising of 1919, its object being the
restoration of the Catholic religion, to
which Cornubians remained greatly at
tached long alter the Reformation, John
Payne, Portrleve Of st. Ives, was one of
the inferior leaders. After the defeat of
the Cornish, Sir Anthony Kingston, with
a royal commission, was seeking out and
Furnishing the rebels. He hung the
Mayor of Bodmin before his own door.
st. Ives Portrieve received Sir Anthony
humbly and prepared a great dinner in
his honor at The venerable George and
Dragon" still standing in Market Square.
During the dinner the Portrieve heard
the sound OF hammering outside and be-
ing disturbed was quieted by Sir Antho-
ny with the remark that they were only
| about to hang a rebel. Dinner over, his
tory relates, the Commissioner invited
the Portrleve outside to inspect the gal
lows.
What say you, Master Portrieve?"
quoth Sir Anthony. "Is you gibbet
traitor?'
All seems ready, ant please you,"
was the prompt reply.
"Then," said the Commissioner, turn
ing TO man-at-armS, secure Master
Payne and hang him straightway, for
such is the Protectors pleasurer'
Master Payne was hung straightway:
nlt the Cornish Ubn oil -,
Celtic Irish and Celtic Welsh, unpleas-
antly remember these little after-dinner
jests of English Protectors and Kings.
Great was the olden fame OF st. Ives as
metropolis OF fish and fishermen. 1t is
still the most important of all Cornish
hSh1ng ports. Five thousand folk live
here on what is harvested from the deep.
or thousand years or more, from father
to son, from mother to daughter, the line
has remained unbroken, has steadily in
creased, and so narrow is the life horizon
Of all these fishermen and families that
not score of them, it is said, ever see
other English land than the hills and
headlands Of st. Ives Bay, save when at
sea in their own boats.
These boats ale all two-masted, lug
sailed, with round Sterns, and range in
tonnage from twenty to thirty tons.
With complete outfits they cost from 43O0
to $3.50. Between 600 and zoo men and
youIuS dI6 0IIlpIOy0u In6 year round In
fishing. During the winter they engage
in line fishing for conger, whiting and
ling, also securing a few cod. In March
the spring mackerel fishing begins. and
the st. Ives men are always found on
their own grounds, from thirty to fifty
miles northwest Of st. Ives in the Irish
Sea. Here they remain until the last of
June, when they set out for the East-coast
Scottish herring fisheries, usually select
ing grounds in the North Sea, opposite
the Firth of Forth, or abreast of Coiding-
ham and Berwick.
During August they will be found along
the East English coast in the neighbof-
hood Of Whitby, Scarborough and the
Yarmouth of Dickens "Peggottys, but
are always back to st. Ives for the an
tumn st. Ives herring fishing, and large
number of their fleet are home in time
Tor possible runs of ''pilchers' (pilch-
ards, the Fair Maids of st. Ives" for
which the ancient seaport has been ia
nous for half thousand years.
AS nearly as can be described the pilch-
ard is the sardine Of the Mediterranean
waters. 1t makes its appearance at st.
Ives, when 1t comes at all, in tremendous
shoals, during the months of September
and October. From daylight until sun
set of every day during these months
watchmen called ''huers' are stationed
at lookouts on Carringgladen and Porth-
Their practiced eyes never fail in dis
corning the approach OF a shoal of these
fish. They come in such vast numbers
that the surface of the bay changes its
color and often is broken into rippies and
foam from the movements of the dense
masses of fish.
On sighting school of pilchards the
''huer'' first blows terrific blast upon
his speaking trumpet. One blast is suffi-
cient. All st. Ives folk tumble from
their homes and rush wildly shouting
"Heyai heva!" to the shore. Meantime
the great seineboats, ready-manned. have
put out and are guided wholly in sur
rounding the shoal by the signaling of
the ''huer' which is done with a hoop on
which white muslin is stretched, to which
a long, light handle is attached. 1t is
called 1.-The busn," for in olden times a
bush was used instead.
Shooting the seines is so rapidly done
at St. Ives that often the entire shoal of
pilchards will be literally impounded
within ten minutes time from the ''hu-
er's" trumpet signal. Single catches of
pilchards have exceeded 5000 hogsheads
of salted and cured fish. Of late wears
the st. Ives pilchard fishery has been un-
certain, but in 1889 there were S, coo half
casks of214 pounds each taken. They are
shipped to various Mediterranean ports
for use IN the Lenten season, Italy being
the largest customer.
The St. Ives fisher folk are noted for
their simplicity and piety. They are
nearly all fervent Methodists, honest, SUI
perstitious, humble and good. They live
in as great comfort as the fisher-folk OF
Newhayen in Scotland, and the man is
more the master of his home and belong
ings. They are the most scrupulousIy
clean and thrifty folk of this sort l have
ever met. The women, though strong
and brawny, have few of the bilIingsgate
characteristics of the fishwiyes of the
ENr,rrl icl, s.-f, r>c