The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-15
sHROVE TUESDAY.
How the Day Before Lent Used to Be

How the Day Before Lent Used to Be
Celebrated in Past Ages.
Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, day
noted now only from the fact. that it is the
day before the beginning of Lent, but
which, in olden times, was the occasion of
great sports.
ShroVe Tuesday originally was supposed
10 be specially dedicated to tbepenitential
confession Of sins and due preparation for
the holy Lenten season of fasting and
prayer Up to the period of the re-
formation Self-respecting Catholics wore
B still wont to seek priestly absolution on
this day. But even long before
4 that Shrovetide had come to be
popularity considered as the occasion
for extraordinary sport and feastIng. 1t
correspondent, in fact. to the eliminating
point Of the continental carnival, which
lasted for a week or ten days before Ash
4 Wednesday. In France, for instance, high
carnival ensued for six days, and presid-
ing officer was annually elected under the
title of Prince d'Amourex; when Ash
Wednesday arrived the peasantry would
bear a curious edigy from house to house.
and collect money for the Funeral of good
living" In England it was the chosen
holiday for the apprentices and working
classes generally, and unboundsd license
prevailed.
An old tract of 1898, entitled "Vox
Graouli," contains this quaint comment:
Here must enter that wadling, stradling
bursten-gutted: oarnifex of all christendom,
vulgarly entitled Shrove Tuesday, but
more pertinently, Sole Monarch of the
Mouth, High Steward to the Stomach,
Chief Ganimede to the Cuts, Prime Peere of
the pTlllata First FO0uda- nf fha Erfffara
etc. ETC., }" and according 20 an old MS. of
the same century: "Men ate and drank
and abandoned themselves to every kind OF
sportive foolery, as If resolved to have their
fill OF pleasure before they were to die.n The
underlying instinct of brutality in the
Anglo-Saxon seems to have found free vent
at this time, too, for the inhuman sports of
cock-hghting and throwing at cocks were
well nigh universal Sohoolboys were al
lowed to bring cocks to school with them,
and masters and scholars alike forgot the
rod and books and became eager spectators
Of the cruel sport. Cock-fghting was
countenanced in many of the schools of
Scotland as late as the beginning of this
century, and the teachers enjoyed the ines
Unable privilege Of claiming the runaway
cocks, called fuRees, as their perquisites
Hutchinson, In his history of CumDer~
land, alludes to an ancient school custom
In the parish Of Bromf1eld, known as "bar-
ring out" or excluding the master from
school for three days, commencing with
Saturday. The doors and windows were
closely barricaded while the boys intrenohed
themselves within armed with popguns and
similar deadly weapons. If the master sue
ceeded In effecting an entrance before the
allotted time, ne was allowed to take
unlimited revenge on the besieged
party, but such contingency was almost
too remote for consideration CapituIation
a Of
DAY, the terms being embodied in an old
Latin formula and duly signed by both
sides. Cock-fghting and games then fol-
lowed. Prominent among the latter was
foot ball, which was played with great zest
everywhere The goals were often two or
three miles apart.
But among the masses no other diversion
could vie with the subtle allurements of
throwing at cocks. Fortunately this bar
Darous pastime was never INDUCED in at
any other time of the year and finally was
suppressed altogether in the last century.
some say that the custom took its rise from
st. Peters memorable experience when he
denied the Savior.
An explanation given in the British
apollo for l70S seems the most rational of
all, particularly as cock-throwing is known
70 have been practiced both in England and
france long before the battle of AgincOurt.
1hls authority says that when the Danes
ruled over England, the citizens of one Of
the cities, chatting under slavery, formed
conspiracy to overthrow the alien power;
but when endeavoring to take the Danes by
surprise at an early hour of the morning,
the loud Growing of the cocks discovered
the plans Of the luckless conSpirators to
thelr enemies, and they were Immediately
captured and severely punished. This is
considered good and sufficient reason why
.ne unfortunate .posterity Of these too
Voclterous "heralds of the morn should
30 long have been condemned TO q yearly
maltreatment. Hogarth gives a graphic
picture Of cock-throwing in his -Four
stages Of Cruelty The animals were care-
tully trained by their owners for weeks be-
Iorehand, sticks, etc., being thrown at them
unuringly until they acquired skill in dodg-
ing the missiles. In the game the cocks
were were tied toa stake in an open space, the
GnroWers standing about twenty-five yards
oseant: twopence procured the privilege
oI tnree SHES, and whoever knocked the
COCK down and caught him before recovery
W .an1 the bird as a prize. The feat being
tulliicnlt to accomplish. the owners some-
Hmes made great deal Of money.
4. ASH Wednesday services will be held in
She Catholic churches here at $50 o'clock
Nuls morningland 1880 o'clock sto-night.
One OF the most beautiful and remarkable
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic church
celebrated in the cathedral of Seville,
spain, precisely as it was instituted more
snan 900 years ago in the same place. A
So1en little boys. exquisitely attired as min
azure cavaliers, dance a graceful minuet
Oetore the high altar, accompanied by a
SS!Ial orchestral and at the same time
stsuslng castanets and singing. The effect
snls Is simply indescribable, and, strange
~ say, the ceremony generally impresses
sae foreigner as being perfectly appropriate
qua up reVerential. But outside OF lovely An
ealSuSls, that picturesque land Of romantic
T nuu light hearted people, the same spectacle
5 aa,gnt well seem sacriiegious to the last