England -- Description and travel; Wales -- Description and travel
But I am a little previous. Close to where I pulled up I saw a man
breaking stones by the roadside, and I asked him if he could tell
me the whereabouts of the abbey. "It be right down there," said he,
pointing ahead with his finger into space, "not more than a quarter
of a mile away. You comes to a cottage, and on the other side of the
way is a footpath by a stream leading to it." He was a civil man, his
instructions were clear, stone-breaking is wearisome work; I was sorry
for him to the extent of a sixpence, better expended than on a tramp, I
thought, and tramps in my green days wheedled many a sixpence out of
me. I remember that the last tramp to whom I gave a trifle exclaimed
in the fulness of his heart upon unexpectedly receiving it, "God bless
you, sir. May we soon meet in Heaven!" Since then my donations to
tramps have ceased. I would chat with that stone-breaker, I would see
the world through a stone-breaker's eyes. But his view of the world
was limited; manifestly the monotony of his labour had told upon him,
perhaps too the loneliness of the life, so that I got little profit out
of the conversation. It needs a strong mind to sit by the roadside all
day long and break stones, do nothing but break stones, and have any
imagination left.
Finding a secluded, shady spot by the wayside I rested there awhile,
for the day was hot; moreover I was already beginning to feel hungry,
and my luncheon-basket was handy. How hungry one gets motoring in the
fresh air, to be sure! Whilst resting there and thinking, it suddenly
struck me how seldom in Wales I saw any children romping about in the
villages as English children are wont to do; even to-day sometimes on
the village greens one finds the latter playing games so old that no
one can tell how they originated. Take, for instance, the game of "Old
Roger" often played at children's gatherings in the West Country to an
old song as follows. I have given this song in a previous book, but it
will bear repeating, and I repeat it to show how this old song, long
years ago, found its way to America, and how it became altered there.
This, then, is how the original "Old Roger" runs:--
Old Roger is dead and lies in his grave--
Hee-haw! lies in his grave.
They planted an apple-tree over his head.
The apples were ripe and ready to drop,
When came a big wind and blew them all off;
Then came an old woman a-picking them up.
Old Roger jumped up and gave her a knock,
Which made the old woman go hipperty-hop.
Now an American lady reading this in my book wrote to me about it,
enclosing the words of a song that was sung to her by her grandfather,
who had learnt it from his grandfather. "It is very plain," wrote
the lady, "that our song came over from your country, and that it
originated in your 'Old Roger.' This is very interesting to me. We call
our song 'Old Father Cungell.' It goes this way:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account