Morning journal and courier., 1893-07-15


 Array by the Poet Traveller Of ! Quaint old Folk-Doinss and Obser- vances still Common in England, Scotland and Ireland - Surprising Record of Sturdy Retention in All Things Holding Fast the Gentler and Dearer Traditions of the Brit ish People-A Brilliant and Inform ing Grouping.
 LONDON, July 3. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 It Is a common and pathetic lament of must wIIueIs, anu I,-..,~-.--.. = 4r--- writers who shut themselves up in the shadows recesses of some moldly club, with the opposite street facade for the limit of their horizon of actual observs- tion, that the good old days and their good old ways are dead and beautiful things of the paet. The change iu conditions of life and living in England, Scotland and Ire land have certainly been greater during this century than in all the five centuries immediately preceding; and this has of necessity made obsolete many ancient cus- toms and obseryances that are perhaps just as we'll to have survival In literary remi- niscence only; but in most of those.things holding fast the gentler and dearer trsdi- tions of people in home, sporting, social and even religious life, there Is a surpris- ing record of sturdy retention.
 Should only those which hsve come un- der my personal notice sines 1867 be given | the briefest reference, so great number could bs grouped as to completely refute | those dolorous plaints that the pleasant | olden cGstoms are no more; and am quite sure that should some friendly and enthu- sIsstic psn be devoted to making an entire | volume on the subject of "Famous British | Customs Still in Vogue," treating the mat ter something after the gsrrulous, genial manner of that wonderful old olla podrids, "Hone's Every Day Book," tha EnslIsh speaking and reading world of to-day would find in the result genuine revela ton of pleasure end surprise.
 l In Ireland the tender custom of loon veying" the departing em!grant is th' same to-day az during all the sad cycle since its psasantry vera forced to sesl homes in foreign lands; It's wakes ant weddings, it's fsirs and frolics, it's chil drens' hunting of the robin and the wren and countless other customs hundreds O years old are precisely as they were in tn , heart of the better olden days.
 , Over in the sturdy little Isle of Ma , every essential feature of its pstrisrchs and representative government, estsb lished early in the tenth century, exists l
 its original simplicity at the present time
 It's Tynvsld court Is still, ss 8 thoussn
 years ago, held under the open sky on 1t | orassy Tynwald hill Its shedding corC
 ners, high bsiliffs, House of Keys an
 rd-besrer, promulgate the laws just 6
 they did in glorious King Orry's tim'
 Some of It's parish clerks are still electe
 by the votes of only those who "put or
 smoke" that is, whose hsbitations possei
 a chimney. It's fisher folk put to sea wit
 goodly prayers and psalms. It's pesssr
 folk, in drssa, customs, expectations an
 pious faith live lives of calm indiferent
 to the outer world of change; and u
 bardic strain of old, held true and fir
 down the shining line of thousand year
 flashes forth now and then in it's weir
 exalted Oiel Verfe in each succeedir
 Christmas tide that comes.
 And who shall truly say that the land
 cakes has lost its fine old customs and te
 der superstitions altogethert what @ nc
 of genial customs atill cling to these ste
 and fine folk through the influence of th'
 "euid neebors" the benefcent little Brow te les alonel Make merry of it ss you ms k the household Scottish "brownie" st ks holds its helpful place in the hearts of ,h people beyond the Esk and the Tweed. n- He is never idle in all good office to
 lowly home of the countryside, where , Is never fail of finding him, if you do I 7's enter his realm in the spirit of eavil @ ok scofaug. There, in each simple home a ng heart he sits enthroned with every ati is bute of benevolence aud affection. i'd not only works with giant might to asi ,a- in ploughipg the land, harvesting he crops, guarding the grain and minding ug herds, but in every little household dr Iso gerry of guidwife and bairn he lendi led helping hand. No Ill can come but t of he has tended Its cruelest touch. No { se- TOW can fall upon the household wh Till hurt would not bs deadlier were 1t not ng his kindly and palliative powers; Ant ,gs all the glorious old land O cakes his gel
 influence adds zest to every peasant snt As the burns, springing from the mi get kcrsg- trimmed corries of the north, desc Ioe- and water the welcoming plains of the A lands, the endless streams of Gaelic SUI ore stition descend from the weird and m her ceilidhs of the orofters' ancient homes