_Straw Necklaces_ (Vol. ii., p. 511.).--Having only lately read the "NOTES
AND QUERIES" (in fact, this being the first number subscribed for), I do
not know the previous allusion. It makes me mention a curious custom at
Carlisle, of the {230} servants who wish to be hired going into the
marketplace of Carlisle, or as they call it "Carel," with a straw in their
mouths. It is fast passing away, and _now_, instead of keeping the straw
constantly in the mouth, they merely put it in a few seconds if they see
any one looking at them. Anderson, in his _Cumberland Ballads_, alludes to
the custom:--
"At Carel I stuid wi' a strae i' my mouth,
The weyves com roun me in clusters:
'What weage dus te ax, canny lad?' says yen."