The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-13
BEARING TAn RUsHBs.
furious Ceremony in an Old English
GhnrCb
From the Pail Nal Gaseti

so recently by an order OF council, is a rest
ing place of poetry. lt is nunuersd among
he three or four spots t. which the English
tpeaking people will make literary pilZri III
age.
There, beneath vew trees which he him
self planted, is the grave OF Wor worth,
and there, too, lies the beloved and unfortu-
nate Hartley Coleridge Hard by tho
waters OF the Rotha, fed by innumerable
beckS, from innumerable fells, swirl over
brown stones the air Is haunted with the
singing OF poets. quick and dead.
Once in every year the tourist from Kes-
wick or Windermere, seeking these associa-
tions will chance upon curious ceremony.
The rude aisles of the weather-beeten church
are strewn with reeds from the lake, the
chancel is decked with white water lilies,
and the whole village wears the aspect of
some unusual festival.
1t Is the day of the annual rushbearing.
Late In the afternoon groups OF children
gathered together, carrying great garlands
OF flo Ners aud PUSHES woven into fantastic
shapes.
These bearings" as they are locally
called, are placed for The admiration of all
beholders upon low stone wall which
edges the churchyard.
1t is pretty sight; in the middle the
bright blossoms and tle gay faces Of the
children; at little distanceIthe silver lake,
and all around the majestic circle Of the
eternal hills. Presently procession is
formed and the "bearingsn are taken in
triumph around the village.
First goes the banner OF st. Oswald, the
warrior, king of the north and patron saint
of Grasmere. then a band playing Jimmy
Dawson's March," then the local clergy in
their SUPPLIES, then the pretUest Of The
village girls, chosen as a queen If the ceres
monies. Behind the queen attendant maid
eus bear the rush sheet
This is a great square of unbleached linen.
spun and woven by hand in the district,
laden with a pile of PUSHES. The rear is
brought up by the rest OF the children, each
with bearing"
As soon as the procession reaches the
church again, the bearings are carried in-
side aud
LAID ACROSS THE PEws,
giving the somewhat barnlike building the
look and fragrance of a flower garden.
A service is held there In the twilight-''a
green thought in q green shade. as an Iold
poet has it-and special "Rushbearers'
Hymn" is sung. When IL 10 over cakes Of
gingerbread OF traditional size and oompo-
sition are distributed among the little
be lrers.
The evening is ended iu a neighboriug
field with some bouts OF wrestling, the
universal pastime of lake country States
men,"
The custom Of rushbearins, surviving
now only IN q few remote corners OF Eng
land, is Of considerable antiquity. It dates
from the time when PUSHES took the place Of
carpets, alike for domestic and ecclesiastical
use. Your medieval hall had bundles Of
them spread for the sake Of warmth over a
stone floor or the beaten earth.
In the old Round Table romance Of "Tris-
tan" occurs the picturesque episode OF the
| Jeux Tristan. The hero on one OF his visits
to lseult, amuses himself by plucking rushes
/ from fha HOor and anaarfpT AUnraa in h.
tapestry with them. This leads 20 his dis
covery by the jealous King Mark
illusions to the practice are frequent In
Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writer's
"A torch for me" says the loveslok Romeo
| at the dance:
A torch for me; let wantons light OF heart
| Tickle the senseless PUSHES with their heels.
In churches 1t became the fashion TO re-
new the rushes. or the hay which OCCASION
ally took their place. at the time of the
yearly "wake," or dedication festival. The
old account books Of many parishes make
mention of sums paid to church wardens
| and others for this purpose.
Here aud there bits of land we're held
under tenure OF supplying tho needed ma
terial. Even when boarded floors and
mating came into use, the carrying Of
! rushes was maintained as a ritual, and
sometimes. as at Grasmere, the ceremony
survived as central feature in the parish
Whhb, W WulGl may pDlb5 ana HlOTElCG
dancers we're merely subordinate.
The Grasmere rushbeariug has lasted In
unbroken continuity from beyond the recol-
lection Of man. Details have been altered
from time to time. The use OF the rnsh
sheet, for instance, was dropped for "A con-
siderable period, and was only revived last
year.
The date Of the festival has also varied
st. Oswald's day is Aug 5, and no doubt
the wake" was originally held ON that day.
But at the beginning of the sixteenth cen
fury, village "wakes" had
FALLEN INTO DISTRIBUTE
for drunkenness and license, and an act of
convocation was assed ordering that they
should all be held on the same Sunday In
October.
This act proved rather dead letter, but
1t seems to have unsettled the good people
OF Grasmere. AT one time tho rush bearing
came at the end OF September, at another
about July 30, and quite recently it has
been restored to the Saturday following st.
Osweld's day.
There 10 a good deal OF rural conservatism
| about it. The gingerbread is traditional
"Jimmy Dawson's March" is traditional,
and the very shapes of the "bearinRs" are
| traditional. too. Among the crosses AMI
crooks and shields occur such strange de-
vices as "Moses in the bullrushes, SER
| pent and a harp, with human head upon it,
Some have seen in these notes If miracle
play; the harp may perhaps be due TO the
conversion of the north by missionaries
! from Ireland. In the serpent Que would
willingly hnd trace of those obscurer
worships which fingered In the hearts OF the
peasa7try long after the establishment of
| the new faith.
| There Is little doubt that the church
"wakes" we're, In many cases, merely modi-
! fed forms of existing village festivals. IL
was often the policy Of early Christianity
10 absorb the observances OF paganism in
stead Of attempting the hopeless task of en-
tirely abolishing them.
And so the origin Of the Gre smere rush
bearing may well be older than we deem,
as old, herhaps, as the dim reign Of Dun
mail, whose Cairo still crowns the brow OF
the valley.
Whether this be so or not, there Is at least
| something OF unconscious paganism in all
these rites wherein flowers and greenery
play so great a part They embody feel
ing OF human kinshlp with the benehcent
earth, hint of the divine in the blooms Of
moorland and coppice in the produce of
filth and vineyard, in the annual mystery
Of growth and decay
To witness this little ceremony in Words
worth's "Churchyard Among the Mount
aims" must have given to many
A sense sublime
. 4 a. -.