A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England)
It is a peculiarity among them to address one another by the
Christian name, or to speak of a man by the Christian name along
with the surname, should there be need to distinguish him from
another. The term "Mr." is rarely employed. A gentleman is "Squire
So-and-so," but not a mister; and the trade is often prefixed to the
name, as Millard Horn, or Pass'n John, or Cap'n Zackie.
There is no form of enjoyment more relished by a West Country man
or woman than a "buryin'." Business occupations are cast aside when
there is to be a funeral. The pomp and circumstance of woe exercise
an extraordinary fascination on the Western mind, and that which
concerns the moribund person at the last is not how to prepare the
soul for the great change, but how to contrive to have a "proper
grand buryin'." "Get away, you rascal!" was the address of an irate
urchin to another, "if you gie' me more o' your saāce you shan't
come to my buryin'." "Us 'as enjoyed ourselves bravely," says a
mourner, wiping the crumbs from his beard and the whiskey-drops from
his lips; and no greater satisfaction could be given to the mourners
than this announcement.
On the other hand a wedding wakes comparatively little interest; the
parents rarely attend.
The looks of Devonshire and Cornish lasses are proverbial. This
is not due to complexion alone, which is cream and roses, but to
the well-proportioned limbs, the litheness of form, uprightness of
carriage, and to the good moulding of the features. The mouth and
chin are always well shaped, and the nose is straight; in shape the
faces are a long oval.
I am not sure that West Country women ever forget that they were
once comely. An old woman of seventy-five was brought forward to be
photographed by an amateur: no words of address could induce her to
speak till the operation was completed; then she put her finger into
her mouth: "You wouldn't ha' me took wi' my cheeks falled in? I just
stuffed the _Western Marnin' News_ into my mouth to fill'n out."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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