Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
The master replied that he had no spirit in the shop, but gave
his customer six-pence to buy a dram to warm the wine, on the
way home.
"God bless 'e," says our Morvah man, slapping Mr. —— on
the shoulder, "but you are one of the right sort, and when my
old oman do want a smock again I'll come and buy 'n for her,
I don't wender now that all the women like to go to your shop,
and that young woman there is pure block tin. But I spose, my
dear," says he, turning towards the one he compared to pure
tin, "you think me an old Molly-caudle, don't 'e, for coman
here to buy the dudds for the old oman home? But 'force put
es no choice,' my dear. I'll tell 'e a minute how she esn't here
herself. This mornan, when I was takan breakfast to go to bal,
Jenny took off a crock of petates from the brandes, that she
had, to save time, boiled for the pig alongside of the tea-kettle
for my breakfast. She must always be doan two or three jobs
together like the milkmaid before now. She took the crock of
petates out in the court to empty away the waater, and a minute
before she had put a tub of calves'-meat to cool on the caunce,
and the cheeld, accordan to custom, was trying to get at 'n to
splash and play in the milk. The cheeld todlan round the tub,
tumbled in souce, head down, Jenny left the cover slip from the
crock in her fright, and out came the boilan waater and petates
all over her foot.
"Then she cried, 'Come thee way'st out here Billy and take
the cheeld out of the calves'-tub; see what I've done, and a es[209]
all thy fault; why disna (dids't thou not) keep the cheeld out of
the way?' Ah was no good to say anything to her, my dear,
because all the women, except you, will lay the blame on
somebody else, for the foolish things they do. I dragged the
cheeld out of the milk, left the dog to lick 'n clean, and dipped
Jenny's foot in a bucket of waater. The pigs got at the crock
and made some screechan when the hot petates burnt their
throats. Next I put my old oman on the bed and pulled off her
stockan with as much care as ef I'd ben peelan a petate. Then,
by her direction, put a linan rag, spread with raw cream, all
over the scald, and, without clunkan a bit more breakfast, got
ready in a jiffy to run in to the doctor for a plaster, and salve,
and things, and to know what was best to do.
"'Billy,' says she, 'as sure es I'm alive, I shall be laid up
for weeks, and thee west have to do the work indoors and out,
but I can never put away the time doan nothan. Put on thy
best hat and blue coat, thy old clothes make thee look foolish
in town, and go in to Mr. ——'s shop; mind what I do tell thee.
I've been savan money these weeks past to buy some underclothing
for winter, the next time I did go to town, and there a
all es in the skibbat of the chest, in three pieces of papar, the
money that each thing will come to.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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