STRANGE SURVIVALS. _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ ~Old Country Life.~ Large Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. ~Historic Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. ~Freaks of Fanaticism.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. ~Songs of the West~: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Parts I., II., and III., 3s. each; Part IV., 5s. Complete in one Vol., French Morocco, gilt edges, 15s. ~Yorkshire Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. ~In the Roar Of the Sea~: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. Crown 8vo, 6s. ~Jacquetta~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s. ~Arminell~: A Social Romance. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s. ~Urith~: A Story of Dartmoor. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. ~Margery Of Quether~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. ~The Tragedy of the Cæsars~: The Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. 2 Vols., Royal 8vo. [_In the Press._ [Illustration: RIDGE TILE, TOTNES. _Frontispiece._] STRANGE SURVIVALS Some Chapters in the History of Man BY S. BARING-GOULD, M.A. AUTHOR OF “MEHALAH,” “OLD COUNTRY LIFE,” “URITH,” “IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA.” Methuen & Co. 18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C. 1892. _Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth._ CONTENTS. PAGE I. ON FOUNDATIONS 1 II. ON GABLES 36 III. OVENS 62 IV. BEDS 84 V. STRIKING A LIGHT 110 VI. UMBRELLAS 129 VII. DOLLS 139 VIII. REVIVALS 149 IX. BROADSIDE BALLADS 180 X. RIDDLES 220 XI. THE GALLOWS 238 XII. HOLES 252 XIII. RAISING THE HAT 282 STRANGE SURVIVALS: _SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF MAN._ I. On Foundations. When the writer was a parson in Yorkshire, he had in his parish a blacksmith blessed, or afflicted--which shall we say?--with seven daughters and not a son. Now the parish was a newly constituted one, and it had a temporary licensed service room; but during the week before the newly erected church was to be consecrated, the blacksmith’s wife presented her husband with a boy--his first boy. Then the blacksmith came to the parson, and the following conversation ensued:-- Blacksmith: “Please, sir, I’ve gotten a little lad at last, and I want to have him baptised on Sunday.” Parson: “Why, Joseph, put it off till Thursday, when the new church will be consecrated; then your little man will be the first child christened in the new font in the new church.” Blacksmith (shuffling with his feet, hitching his shoulders, looking down): “Please, sir, folks say that t’ fust child as is baptised i’ a new church is bound to dee (die). T’ old un (the devil) claims it. Now, sir, I’ve seven little lasses, and but one lad. If this were a lass again ’twouldn’t ’a’ mattered; but as it’s a lad--well, sir, I won’t risk it.”