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    296 NEWLYN AND ITS FISHWOMEN.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    1 N How Atur Frequentl E Has Been Y Leas...

    town , who , engaging * them as partners , led them off to the dance and other amusements . At the repast which followed it was agreed

    , hy _sl certain colonel who presided at the sports , that a queen should be chosen out of their num ~ ber . Unanimously the choice

    seemed to fall upon Sally , who was accordingly crowned as such , everybody drinking her health . Our heroine was then called on .

    to return thanks , which she did in a neat little speech , after which the band struck up " God save the Queen . "

    For twelve years or more this ceremony was yearly repeated at Penzance , Queen Sally always being required to come prepared

    with a speech , several of which she repeated to us verbatim . It is much to be regretted that this yearly festivity , with many other

    good old customs , should have died out ; also , that later fashions should have superseded the characteristic costume of the fishwonien :

    although crinoline is not yet adopted by them , still their attire no longer designates their peculiar calling .

    Age , alas ! is creeping fast over Sally and her husband : the latter is no longer able to work in the mines , and both are entirely

    dependent on the inadequate pittance realized by the old woman in the market . This resource must soon cease : a short time longer ,

    and their queen will no longer be able to take her accustomed standfor rheumatism and other troubles were fast stealing on her

    , strength . The great fear these old people have seems that they shall

    be our reduced prayer" either said the to live ex-miner on charit Ci is y , or to be go spared into the the union bitter . bread ec All

    of dependence , . " He had been , seeking some light employment on the railway , but had failed , and seemed much disappointed . . " It ' s

    hard to be idle , ma'am , when a man is willing to work . If I had only half the strength in me I hadI'd be content with half the

    wages . It ' s Sally keeps the house now , , and there seems no ways I can help her . " We tried to reassure him that Providence would

    provide for them , and perhaps unwittingly we spoke rather too much in the tone of assurance those are apt to adopt who don't

    know either the bitterness of want or the amount of faith required to trust when human means fail . At any rate , the old man ' s

    answer , honest in its bitterness , carried with it a wholesome truth" Ayayma'amthat's true enoughif one could only swallow

    it ; but , it , ' s easier , , ana ' am , to give physic , than to take it . " Alas ! who has not found it so ? yet we tmsfc that Providence will spare

    them the privations they fear , and that their few declining years may pass without separation or want .

    The small-roomed cottage was , independent of its cleanliness , a spot well worth visiting , the miner , a man of taste , having

    arranged a perfect little museum , containing some very rare specimens of geologysparkling" ores & cobtained in the mines .

    The vill , age of Newlyn , has quite , a Continental appearance ; it is raised oil the declivity of a steep hill , and is formed of rude stone

    296 Newlyn And Its Fishwomen.

    296 _NEWLYN AND ITS _FISHWOMEN .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 296, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/8/