Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-27
THE LANDS OF THE ILLS.
A Little Light on the Country Of
the Leek.

From London Answers
When Mr.. Lloyd George, in his re-
cent Newcastle speech, declared that he
was proud of the little land among the
hills" he proved what a thorough Welsh
man he really is. Worst of ALL" he
cried. bitterly. quoting one Of the criti-
cisms leveled against him. 'he is a
Welshman! Well, they've got to stand
the Welshman this time.'
This was typical of his race, for no
people are more proud or patriotic than
the inhat tants of Lloyd George land,
and perhaps it is for the reason that
they prefer, as a general rule, to keep
to themselves. that SO many of the
idiosyncrasies Of these Welshmen. whose
national emblem is the leek, and whose
national game Is kiss-in-the-ring, are UNI
familiar to the English.
Though there are in Wales something
approaching 2,OOO,OOO people, it must
sometimes strike the stranger that they
cannot have more than ten or a dozen
names between them. Take any list Of
liamses. the Davises. the Evanses. the
Thomases. the Grihithses. the Hugheses.
the Robertses. the Lewises. the Morgans,
the Llewellyns and the Richardses. and
you will practically have exhausted the
roll. This Is probably due to the fact
that until some six or seven generations
ago the WelS.l had no surnames at all!
About one Iaffy in every seven now
bears the surname Jones. and the name
Of the David Joneses-besides being
there are. say. half a dozen David
Joneses In the same village, it Is neces-
sary to find some further distinguishing
appellation for each, and one will become
David Jones wyn-white David Jones
another David Jones llwyd-David Jones
noan-annfhpr 1nnQS
the David Jones who speaks English.
The story is told how In one village in
the land of daffodils there were SO many
Joneses that all the available aojectives
appeared upon the scene inventiveness
was for some time unequal to the occa-
sion. But when he bought a piece of
land. and employed on it some lads,
whom he paid sixpence day tor work.
ing from 6 in the morning till at
night. these three SKIES suggested the
necessary distinction. and he forthwith
became Sixpenny Jones.
Suffragettes will be interested to hear
that in our principality it is the wife
who keeps the purse, and woman who
has to ask her husband for shilling is
considered an object of pity. In many
parts 95 a year is considered quite suffi-
cient pay for a general servant, while
the servants of the small farmers do not
get more than e3 or f4-or about one
On such farms, however, equality for
all is the motto. and the servants sit at
the same table with their master and
mistress: and II. when the daughter of
farmer gets married, she introduces
into her household the new custom of
dining before her maid dimes. she is
branded with the stigma of being stuck
up proud"
This is another of the idiosyncrasies of
the Welsh-their singular habit of using
double adjectives of the same meaning.
Thus it Is always bad. wicked man."
an awful dreadful Storm or little
tiny house."
The great big" city of London as
sumes the shape of an ugly hideous'
monster in the eyes OF the Welsh hil
women, who have never left their native
soil. and who are always singing when
they are not slipping tea. 1t Is, to
item. 4 region of damp beds and wet
sheets, thieves. rogues. vagabonds and
wicked people. who lay traps to catch tie
unwary at every imaginable street cor
ner. And that it should be this "evil
malevolent'' citadel that their compa triot
and idol, Davie Lloyd Gee rye. has taken
by storm, appeals to them naturally as
one o. the most remarkable and note
worthy events in their national history.