The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-18

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have ''some;hins Greek in them lie in
stances the Eisteddvod-the Welsh Derby
as "a kind of Olympic" The pastimes
OF the people are mainly intellectual. 1t
Is asserted by competent scholars that
the average Welshman's command of his
native tongue and his native literature is
greater than that of the average
Engllshman of his. While the latter
founders hopelessly, in Spenser, the for.
mer enjoys the reading of the chronicles
and epics of the twelfth century. But, as
in the case OF the modern Greeks, the in
tellectuality of the Welsh people has run
ahead OF their practicaDllity.
engineer of Cwmcoed how any of you
Welsh people can ever get rich. With
your 'stedvuds, musical festivals. and
preaching fairs. ! often wonder how you
can find time to earn living at all"
Among the institutions which have
grown out of the peoples fondness of in
tellectual and spiritual recreation win
or without spirituouS refreshments, one
is peculiarly Greek-the symposium. This
institution is as elastic as the peoples pas
times and as flexible as the Welsh-Greek
mind. When the pastime is chiefly spir-
itual the symposium Is held in the cha
pel-hOuse after preaching service, where
the deacons gather together to discuss
with the preacher the points of the SER
mon, comparing 1t with other sermons by
other preachers they had heard. with
sna.ches of the old preachers "hwyl."
is a very trying one, for there is always
one in the symposium who delights In
curbing the pride of young preachers, and
who If need be. digs into the grave of an
old preacher for one of his bones to give
the young upstart a wholesome correction.
When the pastime IL mainly intellectual.
like the Eisteddvod, you should see the
bards and literateurs gathered together
in II cosy room during the intervals be-
tween the sessions. with an arch-druid
as Socrates, holding high converse be-
tween rings of smoke, discussing the
intricacies of ALTERATION (cynghanedd),
recounting bardic triumphs and qlIarrels,
and start new quarrels In order to fur
nsh the Welsh newspapers with interest
ing reading matter for the next twelve
months.
When the pastme is mainly emotional,
or artistic say, you should travel with
mixed choir On its triumphant homeward
progress from an eisteddvod or musical
festival With the bards, the symposium
is feast of reason; with the choir. 1t Is
a flow of SOUL "and our spirits rushed
together al the touching of the lips"
But for Il genuine Socratic symposium
on Welsh soil, allow me to personally
conduct you to the Clwb CrOchan Ccri-
owen (the club of Ceridwen's CauldrOnl,
which occupied the backroom of Morgan
Hopkins grocery store, Cwmcoed. q,
Morgan was a bachelor and the members
We're all bachelors, except llew Llwyd.
our Socrates. who always forgot that he
was q married man at the club, until his
Xantippc who in no wise resembled So
crates wife. except in curtaillnS his
club fun, came to fetch him home, often
at unseemly hours.
But to prevent any possible misundcr-
standing, ii is but lifting to state here
that we never drank anything stronger
at the club than tea from the grounds In
Aorgan's teapot which he usually left
on the hob after his bachelor repast.
The Cochran, for so we called II tor
81. nlu - q
had no stated time of meeting. Those who
worked in the mines during the. day
shift met in the evening with considerl-
BILE regularity. Those who worked during
the night-shift looked in at any hour
during the day, before or often after few
hours sleep. The average attendance
during the twentyfour hours seldom ex-
ceeded two at a time. ...
But it was a high time at the CrOchan
during "stop weggins," when the mines
were stopped for days and weeks, walt
ing orders for coal. The Crochan then
would be crowded all day, half Of the
members sitting on the table. Poor Nor
gan Hopkins would become distract I'd
man. Customers would be SHE'D away
from the store by the tumult within. OH
Sergeant Shoddy would stop at the door
or his beat, undecided what course 20
take.
one had new solo to learn for an
eisteddvod competition. another a reci-
tation-''Ty ar Dan" Cine House on fire.
to learn for penny-reading.. One had
an essay to write on 1.-The Wonders Of the
Human Mind" another a quatrain to com
pose on "Y Boes Bwyd' lThe Golfers
Food-box). or an ode on 'The Bulgarian
Atrocities" which at that time had reused
the righteous Indignation of the civilized
world and Cwmcoed. One member had
found the philosophers stone in short
hand. another who had just let out the
secret that he was candidate for the
ministry was deep in pr; LEVIN Edwards
.vu.l.. II, tttpf
one man-the politician-who took in n
daily newspaper published in Cardiff. a
town which loomed as large in our vision
of the world then as London. though We
were looking up the hard words in Cur
wen's STANDARD Course" goaded on by
an ambition to obtain the degree of A.
c.. from the Tonic Sofia college.
The constitution of the Crochan was
very simple-I mean. the club and not
the black cauldron which was always sus-
pended on crane over the fire. The con-
stitutiOn of the latter was of east iron.
and its contents were as varied as the
talents of the members of the club. A
picture of a disheveled sibyl, drawn by
'the artist" and pinned to the wall rep
resenting Ceridwen. the patron goddess
of Welsh bards. together with the Crochan
formed our club emblems.
We never could tolerate officials, and
never selected any. not even a president,
which, no doubt, was Something
Creek in us. They say that the reason
why modern Greeks, with their we'll
known genius for politics, sent to us for
foreigner to become king over them II,
that they could not bear to be ruled by one
of themselves. Nobody knew how Llew
Llwd became our arch-druid, to whom
we instinctively referred matters in a
crisis. But with due respect to Llew, we
only meant to use him as a sort of figure
head, to give the Crochan a standing in
the village.
The whole constitution was wrapped up
in the initiation ceremonies, and once
you rode the goat" you were q free man.
When a candidate presented himself for
membership, a piece of wrapping paper
pilfered from Morgan's store was laid be-
fore him on the table, with pen and ink,
and he was asked to compose q couplet
Of verse, no more, no less, while THE mem.