Anecdotes of English Rural Life, Part I [pp. 473-476]

474APPLETONS' JOURNAL.
country brethren without seeing that, while they
are generally given to the love of money, they are
remarkable for hospitality and neighborly kindness. It is not uncommon to find many tillers of
the soil so fond of hard cash as to feel it a hardship to part with sixpence for almost any kind of
benevolent enterprise; yet they begrudge not a
hearty meal to any who may call; and I have seen
the tables of such groan beneath the good things
of this life, to the best and most of which you
were made heartily welcome. And, at any hour
of the day or of the night, they or theirs were
ever ready to give a helping hand in any work
either of need or mercy that might present
itself.
Though not deficient in good sense, yet their
ignorance of the ways of the world, especially of
the tricks which are often played on the unwary,
exposes them to the artful ways of the designing.
A woman in one of the many obscure villages in
the northern Dales had the misfortune to lose her
husband by death; but she was consoled by
being told by her minister that he had gone to
be better off in Paradise, where in time she would
rejoin him. Now, it is well known that in the
coal-mining districts of Durham and Northumberland fine names are at times given to some
newly formed settlements. One such was designated "Paradise." Well, it happened that a
hawker of some kind, living in that village,
found his way in his peregrinations to this poor
woman's house, where he offered his wares for
sale. While conversing with this man, the widow
got to know that he came from Paradise, which
was his home. "Why," said she, starting to her
feet and looking earnestly at her visitor, " that's
wheere ma good man hes gone ta live: happen
ye knaw him?"
Now, whether the hawker saw a chance of
enriching himself at the poor body's expense, or
that he was leading her on, at first for the fun of
the thing, I know not; but true it is that he told
her that he saw her husband when he entered
the village; "and," said he in reply to her eager
inquiries, "he was well and all but happy when
I left; but if I could take him a little of something, he would be perfectly content with his
lot."
The consequence of this was that the hawker
left the poor woman's cottage considerably richer
in money and in apparel than when he entered
it; she actually believing that what she gave
the man would find its way to her husband
and heighten his happiness. This may not be
credited by many; but the incident really occurred not over thirty years since. I believe,
however, that the hawker was made to disgorge most of his spoil, the police having heard
of the case.
I was well acquainted with a woman, the wife
of a farmer, who resided in an obscure hamlet
among the hills. She had lived till beyond mature life before she married, and had saved during her life of domestic servitude nearly two hundred pounds. Most of this sum she had out at
interest when she married. One day a female
gypsy entered her house in her husband's absence,
and, telling her that a fortune had been left her
years ago by a relative, and that the money was
then in the national funds, only awaiting certain
acts which she (the gypsy) could easily perform
in order that it might become hers, an arrangement was entered into at once for the getting of
the fortune, one requirement, however, being absolute secrecy. Acting on the vixen's instructions, the woman called in one hundred pounds
of her investments, and had the money in " golden sovereigns" when the gypsy called again.
"Now," said the hag, " this money must be
put into a blue stocking; it must be tied up, and
hung on a nail in the kitchen here, and there it
must remain for fourteen days, when I will call
again, and the fortune will be yours."
A blue stocking was fetched; the money was
put therein, and it-or rather another stocking of
the like color, brought in the gypsy's basket, and
dexterously exchanged for the other-was hung
up as described; and away went the gypsy. That
same night the tents of the Bohemians were
struck, to be planted fifty or more miles away.
Need I say that when the stocking was taken
down, instead of revealing the hundred gold sovereigns, a number of round pieces of lead appalled the gaze of the deluded one!
Some young men are possessed of a shrewdness not expected in them when judged by their
appearance. The writer was once on a journey
among the Dales. The morning was frosty. As
he went along a highway, he was overtaken by a
big, burly, half-witted-looking lad on the back of
a pony, which was fearfully affected in its lungs,
as its loud wheezing testified.
"Your pony is short of breath, my lad, this
morning," said the writer.
"Duv yo think soa? *Naa; aw think it's getten ower mitch, an' can't git shut on't."
And away trotted the pony, with its philosophic rider, leaving the writer to his reflections.
in these villages Methodist "revivals" are
common. A young farm-servant had been
"brought in" in one of them, and in the heat
of his enthusiasm he was heard at times praying
aloud in the barn. On one such occasion a man
stopped to listen. With vehemence the lad was
saying, "0 Lord, send the divil aat ov aar village wi' twa hats."
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