The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-30

one sop which modern reform has
 thrown to the whole of old usage is at | Winchelsea, one of the Ancient
 Towns of the Cinque Ports where, it
 was felt, any change from the custom
 Of electing the mayor at Easter would
 undermine all the venerable traditions
 of one of the quaintest and most an clent localities in the realm. At one 1 place the ancient ceremony is observed | Of weighing the mayor into office, rms year the same man was reelected. 1 and the people of he town consider 1t
 to the credit of their aldermanic turtle
 and champagne that the official scales
 show him to be heavier by several
 pounds than he was a year ago. High Wycombe is the place which thus tages
 its mayor by weight, and in the
 same town every Miehaelmas the l old fashioned system of "hir-
 ings' is observed. Those desiring to
 change their situations gather in the market place. To denote their calling | cowmen and shepherds wear tufts or
 hair in their caps, while the caps of plowmen and team boys are adorned with whipcord The bargaining for wages is all public, and after their en- | gagement, these hired men and maldens
 are adorned, like prize oxen at coun- | ty fair, with bright colored ribbons and go off together to a meadow where in l nocent sports are induged.
 | Those who have taken part whether pro or con in the American agitation about the Curfew Bell will be interest ed to know that at Wisbech, a village in the Eastern part of England, the
 custom of ringing has been perLetuated
 for more than 800 years, and there is official record of the fact that 250 years ago the town bailiff was ordered to see to it that the bellman should always have bed and bedstead in the church steeple. Country villages are numerous in which at from five to six a. m. the
 morning bell'' is rung, informing la
 borers that it is time for them to get
 up, and in not a few places during har-
 vest the bell of the parish church is
 rung at a. m. as "gleaning bell
 This is the interest of fairness, so that
 all who have cleaning rights shall have
 an equal chance by all entering the
 field together. Otherwise the younger
 women. With light duties at home,
 would make a clean sweep while those
 having many months to fill might still
 be washing up the dishes
 It is wicked, no doubt, to chuckle over a subject so grave, but this writer has
 had many laugh over old customs
 which are still observed in burying
 grounds, by means of which eccentric persons have provided that for all time
 their memory shall be kept green, and
 perhaps incidentally, a little good be
 done by the money they left. There is a mausoleum at St. Ives Cornwall which a man erected to his own mem ory and glory. He was not buried in it, but he provided that to the end of time after his death celebration should be held around it every fifth year. This consists of dancing by ten girls under ten years of age who are led by two old women and accompanied by a fid- dler. It Is carried out under the super vision of the city authorities, who are all supposed to be present and after fifteen minutes of hilarity of the kind named the girls are each presented with ten shillings, the fiddler and the women each getting twice that sum. In another instance in which dead Englishman seems bent on still keeping himself alive, the method adopted seems more appropriate. On every Easter Eve since the beginning of last century the choir of the parish church at Market Marlborough has gone surpliced to the grave of one William Hubbard. Sur rounding the grave they sing an Easter Hymn and after that they receive a gratuity of twenty-on shillings for the i lot, derived from the rent charge on a | house the man left.
 On this subject of the survival of l quaint old English custom one wonders if it is generally known that in a church at Ledbury in Herfordshire a sermon is preached annually aginst duelling. This | is done, and no doubt will continue to | be done for ever, or nearly so, in &C., | cordance with the last will and testa- | ment of fair damsel whose rival lovers | died fighting for her hand. Other an- | nual sermons provided for and gener- | ously paid for by the wills of those long | gone are the one against drunkenness | which is preached in Grantham Parish | Church, and what is called the Lion Sermon annually delivered in the | Church of St. Catherine Cree, in the | City of London. Mention of this latter ' sermon is rendered timely by the re- [ cent installation of the new Lord May or for it was by former Lord Mayor, | Sir John Saver, that the preaching of ! this sermon was instituted. This gen.