There was a queer, dried stick of a man at the farm whom we never heard
speak except to say "Ess, maister," and "zackly." His name was Jacob,
and he was famous for having given a shrewd answer on one occasion
when asked how he knew when he had had enough to eat. "When I do feel
my buttons," said he; and people then said that Jacob was wiser than
he looked, which was, no doubt, true, for he did not look very wise.
The old boy had a trick of wandering about at nights, and was credited
with having seen strange things which he was "a nation sight too artful
to talk about." After the evening meal Mrs. Andrawartha induced him
to stay with us, and tell us the story of something which happened at
a neighbouring farm. Jacob was reared on the place, and so knew all
about it. The widow translated as he went along, and the story ran like
this:--
JACOB'S PISKIE STORY.
A farmer, Nicholas Annear by name, was known far and wide as Ould
Hurry-all. Every one about him was always glad to see his back turned,
so as to have "a bit" of peace and quietness in the house. His wife
was just the opposite, and took things easy, and when Nickey was going
to drive to market in his cart, he nearly drove every one on the place
mazed. 'Twas hurry, hurry, hurry all the time; and one day he was worse
than ever, and broke all the clome dishes in his tantrums. The poor
woman threw her apron over her head, and began to weep and sob so as to
be heard a mile off.
Now, you must know, there's a little man piskie which belonged to
the Missus's family, and came with her to her new home when she was
married. He used to do odd jobs for her to make things go smooth when
Nickey was taisey-like, which was every day now, for he got worse with
age.
"What's the matter, Missus?" asks the little man.
"I wish I was dead," says Missus. "That Nickey'll drive me as mad as a
curly, an' I'm only a shadder now."
She weighed ten score, but she thought she was failing.
"I'll give'm a lesson," says the little man.
Now, what did the piskie do? He hopped on to the cart by the side of
Nickey, only Nickey couldn't see him, and he made a picture right
before his very eyes so that he saw the church tower standing in the
market-place as large as life. And he drove and he drove, hurry, hurry
all the time, and he'd scarce give himself time to speak a civil word
to people as he passed along. He drove, and he drove, and he drove, and
there was the church tower before him. The pigs in the cart squealed
louder and louder as they got more and more famished, and the horse
began to fail, and Nickey got madder and madder. Evening began to fall,
and still the church tower was in front of him; and then night came,
and the pigs were quiet through hunger, and the horse could scarcely
put one leg before the other.
And what did the little man do? Oh, he was artful. When the market was
all over, and night came, he removed the picture of the church tower in
the market-place from Nickey's eyes, and, lo and behold! the horse was
standing, dead tired and ready to drop, outside of the very gate which
it had been driven from in the morning.
Nicholas Annear was a reformed man after that, and was no more in a
hurry over things than his neighbours. But the story got about, of
course, and the people have a saying now that "a man in a hurry will be
late to market."
* * * * *
The Early Church seems to have had a great deal of trouble with
piskies, and every effort was made to put the people out of love with
them. It was said that they were the souls of unbaptized infants and
servants of "Old Artful," and for that reason they would neither enter
a church nor come within sound of church bells. But Mrs. Andrawartha
told us of a legend which goes back further, namely, that piskies are
the children of Adam and Eve, who wouldn't be washed on Saturday nights
before going to bed. Those who could get away did, to avoid having
their eyes filled with soap, and two hid away so effectually that they
were never found again, although Adam and Eve sent the crier round, and
then cried themselves until they were tired. These wandering children
lived upon fern-seed, mixed with dew flavoured with sunbeams, until
they acquired the power of becoming invisible, and then they returned
home, and did household work, and other things, for the family; but
they were like the famous soap that wouldn't wash. The old people
used to tell children that they would be turned into piskies if they
wouldn't have their Saturday-night tubbing and say their prayers and go
to bed.
There is a little brown moth called the "piskie," and children are now
told that if they are not good these piskie-moths will play them tricks
in their sleep. The School Boards have wrestled with the piskie and
failed, and now the County Council is in the ring. Still the piskie,
visible and invisible, lives.
The Bookworm was on his legs again, and we all were sorry to leave
the farm and the comfortable widow. Guy managed to linger behind and
get a last word with Phyllis, the daughter of the house, and exchange
photographs, or, perhaps, something dearer to romance. The two tall
sons walked with us "a pure distance," and told us the names of the
farms round about, names which none but a native could ever remember.
They told us that the Andrawarthas had farmed this land, from father
to son, for over three centuries. The eldest son was going to marry
soon and bring home his wife, but would not dispossess his mother
during her lifetime. Only the other son would go afield--Australia or
Canada--and set up for himself; and Phyllis was to be married soon to
a neighbouring farmer, who would follow his own father by-and-bye.
Everything seemed so orderly as they talked, as though the currents of
life flowed strong and deep, and the idea of home was never disturbed.
The young people did not stay at home dividing and subdividing lands
and chattels until there was nothing to divide, but went abroad and set
up new homesteads, calling them by the old names. Young Andrawartha
said, whether he settled in Canada or Australia, he'd call his farm
after the old place. If he couldn't have anything else he'd have the
name to comfort him. Many of the young men did that, he said, when they
settled in a new place.
The Bookworm said Cornwall was a bigger place than it looked, or than
could be gripped between the arms of the Atlantic, because of the
tributaries it sent all over the world, every man taking with him a bit
of Cornish earth and love, and setting up a new colony beyond the seas,
just as the old Greeks carried with them some of the fire from the
ancient hearths.
Guy said he would remember the name of the farm for the rest of his
life, and he tramped along with laggard steps, and would have given
much for an excuse to run back and find a dropped handkerchief, and
shake hands over again with the comfortable widow, on the chance of
seeing Phyllis the bespoke. When we got off the estate, and the young
men left us, he wanted to know whether it was possible to fancy the
dainty Phyllis as "comfortable" in days to come as her portly mother?
We turned round just to take a last look at the farmhouse wherein
we had been so well treated. The dwelling and all the outhouses
made a goodly show, and, at a distance, the yellow lichen--a poor,
poverty-looking thing enough--covering the roofs, had the appearance of
burnished gold. Nature here will insist on dressing herself out in most
unlikely places, and has a trick of her own for covering up ugliness.
A flash of sunshine, a breath of air, a pinch of dust kissed with dew,
and flat slates on ugly roofs are covered with cloth of gold for the
tired feet of winged spirits of the air. This was the last view that
three tramps had, and the remembrance remains with them.
A Cornishman seldom travels without a pasty. When small, a pasty
is a snack; when large, it's a meal. Mrs. Andrawartha gave each of
us a pasty to keep us from fainting by the way, just the same as a
considerate hostess elsewhere would slip a packet of dainty sandwiches
into the hands of departing guests. "You'll find'm good," said she,
with honest pride; and we did.
The home of the pasty is Cornwall. It may be met with in Devon, and is
possible in Yorkshire, but Cornwall is its home now. In a sense the
pasty is Cornish. There are other dishes, but the pasty comes first,
the making of which is handed down from generation to generation.
Every created thing that may be eaten goes into a pasty--fish, flesh,
or fowl, and the herb of the field, whether sweet or sour, to say
nothing of fruits and humble potatoes and turnips. When a woman has a
rage for pasty-making, nothing comes amiss when the strip of dough is
ready. There's a knack in turning out a shapely pasty no longer than
one's hand, or big enough for a family to carve at and come again. All
pasties are alike on the outside; and the cable-twist running from end
to end, delicately tapering from the centre towards the points, is a
work of art to look at. As the pasty goes to the oven, so it comes out,
puffed up a little with self-conscious pride at having gone through
the fiery trial and come out a generous brown, with every cable-twist
intact, and every curve swelling with inward importance. The origin
of the pasty is lost with the language, but the thing is universal,
and the friend of all. The workman takes it in his bag, the traveller
pops it in his pocket, the family sit around it. No knife, no fork,
no tablecloth is wanted; out comes the pasty, and the feast begins.
A pasty fresh from the oven sends up an incense which makes a hungry
man thankful to be alive. A man will call at a friend's house with his
pasty in his pocket, and the good woman will warm it for him, and he'll
join the family circle without any one thinking it an intrusion. Tea
is the drink with a pasty. Anything else will do, from white wine to
cider; but tea is the drink for choice.
A pie is another Cornish dish, and lends itself to the racial aptitude
for secrecy. Almost anything under the sun may be put into a pie, and
no one be the wiser, for the crust puts on a brave face and hides
the poverty (should there be poverty) underneath. No end of stories
have been told of pies. A person in a sarcastic mood has been known
to send a neighbour a pie with a halter in it; but the piskies did
something better than that, and sent the barren wife of the Earl of
Cornwall a pie which, when opened, was filled with sweet herbs and wild
flowers, in the midst of which a little heir lay smiling. And then, as
a set-off, Old Nick comes in and watches a woman make an "all-sorts"
pie, in which nothing seemed out of place; and so afraid was he that
his own dear self would be included that he skipped out of the county.
The pie, like the pasty, is a mystery until it is opened, unless the
crust is decorated with the foot of a duck, or some other indication of
contents. The heads of pilchards peeping through the crust suggested
the name of "star-gazey pie;" but a stranger in the land may never see
it--indeed, he may never see many things.
[Illustration: HOMEWARD BOUND.]