The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1893-07-22

I OAulOA anu OtatC lOQld ACftA Jub
down-the annual Common Rulings;
and, as the Cornet is mounted, feel
the thrill of the hero-days within
them as Hogg's soul stirring lines.
Sons of heroes slain at Flodden -
| Met to ride and trace our Common,
burst from thousands of borderers'
Threats; and they will know that
the Scotia of old, in tradition, feel
ing, pastime and venerated custom,
is the same to-day as, long before the
solemn league and covenant.
Down in SCARED and earth. rent old
Cornwall little indeed has been any
manner of change for hundreds of
years. 1t is within the memory of
those now living when old folk were
constantly lamenting in their an
cient language, "Cornoack eve all ne
cea yer yen poble younk r'-"Cor-
nish is all forgot with the young peo-
plep' but there has been no one to
lament in truth the departure of old
customs in the rugged land of "Tres,
Pol and Pen" See what host of
these dear old drolls, and these but
few out of hundreds, even a Yam
kee can find and remember: The
"Takin' Sunday when all the lads
and lasses meet to select ''pairdners"
for Mazard (cherry Fair, that most
beloved and ancient fair at Praze;
the ''growder" selling and growder,
or scrubbing day the watching"
over night for the May days coming
the blessing of apple trees on St,
James Day and at Christmas time;
'rook' day on the great estates,
when all the peasant folk can shoot
rocks to their hearts content and
luxuriate in pot-pie made of the
young rocks for fortnight thereafter;
"cob nutting," that ferocious contest
between Cornish lads, and quite as
wonderful kite flying by grave old
miners; that immemorial custom of
mothers of bestowing gifts to the
first person met, when returning
from a christening, the taking the
New Year into houses invariably
by men first, on account of the i'll
luck always following a woman's ac-
cidental first entrance, a custom al
most as universal in Scotland, Ire.
land and some portions Of the North
of England, the saturnalia of flowers
at Helston called Furry Flora) Day,
as ancient as the duchy itself; and
the "huers" of Carringgladen and
Porthminister Hills, St Ives, and
their horn blowing and bush waving
as the shoals of pitchers are sighted.
In England generally the great
number of old customs surviving,
and almost prevailing, is far more
remarkable to those who will see,
than can the absence of their like be |
either striking or lamentabe save
to those of completely Opaque vision.
In modern London, modern as Paris |
or New York in most of its charact-
eristics, there are no end of ancient
customs still in vogue, especially |
among the extremes of society, from |
the costermonger annual outland
ish parade to the Lord Mayors ban
quet. There is no greater nest of
these odd old ceremonials and things
than may at any time be observed |
in and about parliament and the
house of lords; while for every half
dozen court ceremonials IN vogue |
during the time of Elizabeth that
have been discarded, any person of
intelligence can point out a score,
equally antique, curious, and some
might insist ridiculous, which have
been dauntlessly retained AS |
have previously shown in these arti-
Giles, English villages and village life
are in most particulars as charming
and characterize as they were any
time at or beyond a century ago.
The customs remain with these prac-
TALLY the same; and the change in
essentials is largely in the mag
ination of those who remove to the
cities, and who are themselves sub
ject to such radical change that
their former provincial environ ment
seems mean and deformed from the
new and wondrous view. But COM
ing directly to the most important
and effective illustration that can
be made, take life in and about the
great English, or for that matter
Scottish and Irish, noblemen's es-
tates. As British institutions and
sociology go, these provide the high
est possible example. With few ex-
ceptions-such as the discontinue
ance of home brewing of ale, and
provision of servants hall in place
of the common table-the entire
regime of these splendid places re
mains the same as in the time when
the old robbie barons' fortified stone
barrels with bitches around them
were transformed into princely Eliz-
abethian castle or hail.