Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
History
Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
Curiosities and wonders; Encyclopedias and dictionaries; Folklore
How frequently do we obtain, from the ordinary articles of domestic
life which they were accustomed to use, a correct idea of the habits
and tastes of whole communities which have long since passed away.
A striking instance of this is the chair, of which the above is a
correct sketch. It belonged to John Carver, who was one of the band of
single-hearted men who constituted the Pilgrim Fathers, and who after
first setting out from Holland, eventually sailed from Plymouth in
England, in August, 1620. They landed in Cape Cod Harbour, New England,
on the 9th of November following. Carver, was one of the chief spirits
of the band, and the chair which we have sketched was one of his best
articles of furniture, which he took with him in the Mayflower. He
was elected the first governor of the community, and died in the year
following his election. How forcibly does it show the simplicity of
taste, and the freedom from pomp and vanity which characterised the
devoted and fearless men who left their native shores, and sought
"freedom to worship God" in a land to them unknown, that they should
have selected as their first governor, an individual, the best chair in
whose house was the homely article which we have here depicted.
A HARMLESS ECCENTRIC.
[Illustration: [++] Jenny Darney, a Harmless Eccentric.]
The annexed cut represents a singular character who was well known
about the year 1790 in the southern part of the county of Cumberland.
Her appearance is thus described by a correspondent of the Gentleman's
Magazine of that date:--"Though I have seen her at various times, and
frequently conversed with her, for these 20 years, I have never been
able to learn any particulars respecting her family, friends, or name.
The country people know her by the appellation of Jenny Darney, from
the manner, I presume, in which she used to mend her clothes. Her
present garb is entirely of her own manufacture. She collects the small
parcels of wool which lie about the fields in sheep farms, spins it on
a rock and spindle of her own making; and as she cannot find any other
method of making the yarn into cloth, she knits it on wooden needles,
and by that means procures a warm comfortable dress. In the lifetime of
the late Charles Lutwidge, Esq., of Holm Rook, she took possession of
an old cottage, or rather cow-house, on his estate, in which she has
ever since been suffered to continue. Her intellects seem at certain
times greatly deranged, but her actions are harmless, and her language
inoffensive. On that score she is caressed by all the villagers, who
supply her with eatables, &c., for money she utterly refuses. She
seems a person in her lucid intervals, of much shrewdness, and her
understanding is above the common level. This has also been improved
by a tolerable education. Her appearance has been much the same for
these 20 years, so that she must now be nearly 90 years of age; but of
this, as well as her family and name, she is always silent. She seems
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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