Three Wise Women, 1879 by E.T. Corbett

THREE WISE WOMEN

A Tragical Story for a Shadow Show

Three wise old women were they, were they,

Who went to walk on a winter day.

One carried a basket to hold some berries;

One carried a ladder to climb for cherries;

The third, as became the wisest one,

She carried a fan to keep off the sun!

 

“Dear, dear!” said one. A bull I see!

I think we’d better all climb a tree!”

But there wasn’t a tree for miles around, -   

And they’re far too frightened to stay on the ground!

So they climbed their ladder up to the top,

And sat there screaming, “We’ll drop! We’ll drop!”

But the wind was strong as wind could be,

And blew their ladder right out to sea!

Soon the three wise women were all afloat

In a leaky ladder instead of a boat!

And when as they sailed the waves rolled in

Of course the poor creatures were wet to the skin.

Then they took their basket, the water to bail;

They put up their fan, to make a sail;

But what became of the wise women then, -

Whether they ever got home again,

Whether they saw any bulls or no, -

You must find out, for I don’t know.

E.T. Corbett

THE OLD APPLE-WOMAN (Boys Own, 1879)

THE OLD APPLE-WOMAN (anonymous)

A capital trick for budding ventriloquists is “The Talking Hand” and when neatly performed it is very amusing. Having first provided yourself with a mitten purposely made, with a hole in the centre, and a frill round it thus:

  And painted the side of your hand to represent Biddy the apple-woman’s face, so:

You are ready to make a nice little speech, and introduce “Biddy” to your expectant audience in the back parlour.

Indian ink will give her eyes as black as Susan’s, and a little red paint, judiciously applied to the top of the thumb and that part of the hand immediately above it, will materially assist the illusion by giving her a mouth.

 The above is a picture of Biddy with her new cap on. Her nose must be indicated by black lines, and a slight redness at the uptilted end may not be considered out of character. The chin, you observe, is painted on the thumb.

Now stitch a skirt to the lower part of the mitten, and throw a shawl round her head, and you have the old apple-woman to the life.

You must arrange a little dialogue between Biddy and yourself, keeping the imaginations of the spectators in full play, so as to draw attention from your lips and muscles, which you must nevertheless keep in as much rest as possible. Let Biddy’s sentences be short and emphatic, and in a tone as unlike your natural voice as you can assume. As Biddy speaks you must move your thumb up and down, which motion can be so made as to give the idea of the lips moving.  [See the articles on “Ventriloquism” in our last volume, and also page 80 of this.]

SHORE-HUNTING By Rev J. G Wood 1879 (final part for now)

Sometimes low water will occur after dark. Do not be deterred by the darkness, but take a lantern and go on with your researches. You will be rewarded for your trouble, as there are in the sea, as on the shore, many creatures which hide themselves during the day and only move about at night.

Such, for example, are the limpets. In the daytime they are motionless, and fixed so firmly against the rock that they are not easily removed. Each limpet has the edges of its shell sunk into a slight hollow, which the shell exactly fits. If a shell be marked,  say with a little red sealing-wax varnish, and its locality marked in the same manner, it seems to be absolutely stationary, never leaving the spot where it was first marked.

But if the observer takes a lantern to the same locality at night he will find the marked spot vacant, its tenant having gone off to feed on the algae. Hundreds of limpets may be seen slowly travelling about during the hours of darkness. Towards dawn, however, they cease from feeding, and go back to their resting places, each having its own simple home, and not allowing any of its companions to intrude upon its territory.

As a rule, very few living creatures will be found until midway between high and low water mark, and those which are found are generally damaged or half-dead. But when you have reached the midway line you may begin your search in good earnest. Do not take too large an area, nor be in haste to pass from one spot to another, as is the custom of all beginners. Choose a single small rock-pool, and make up your mind not to leave it until every inch of it has been minutely examined. Nothing sharpens the eyesight more than your practice, and after a while you will find yourself detecting objects which would have eluded your observation a few days ago.

Turn over every stone, peep into every crevice, and try them not only by the eye but with the fingers. Touch often succeeds where sight fails, and many Actinia or Nudibranch would escape if the shore-hunter were to use his eyes without supplementing them with his fingers.

(To be continued)

SHORE-HUNTING By Rev J G Wood 1879 (continued)

Everyone begins by encumbering himself with all sorts of appliances, and, as he gains experience, leaves his appliances behind him. Take nothing with you except a can with a sling handle; and an earthenware jar, with a stout string by way of handle, is as good as anything else. The “tin” vessels sold in the shops are nothing but tinned iron, and are always liable to rust, which is simply poison to aquatic animals.

You may perhaps need a knife.

In that case, keep one for the purpose, and, as sharpness is not required, and the knife is used more for digging than cutting, the cheapest single-bladed knife that you can procure will be better for the purpose than a costly pocket-knife. A common glazier’s knife is a capital tool, as it is stout, strong, has no folding handle, and is quite sharp enough for the shore-hunter. Moreover, as a dip in sea-water will cover any knife with rust, it is better to have one which will not be harmed by any amount of rust.

Never mind a net at present, but it is as well to have a stick with a hooked handle. This will be useful as a support while stepping among the slippery rocks, and the hook is exceedingly valuable in drawing aside the masses of seaweed that droop over crevices which you will wish to explore.

As for dress, always take to the seaside the worst suit which you possess, and use it expressly for shore-hunting. Some persons have a special canvas suit, like that which is used by engineers while employed in the workshop; but anything will do, as the real shore-hunter cares nothing for appearances.

Make up your mind that you must get wet, and so have your clothing to suit the occasion. Stockings, of course, are needless, and the trousers should be rolled well over the knee and secured by a stout pin, otherwise they have a knack of coming down just as you are standing in a pool, with both hands engaged.

A pair of old shoes should always be worn; rock and pebbles are bad enough to walk upon with bare feet, but as the rocks are mostly studded with sharp shells, and pieces of broken bottles and earthenware are apt to lie about the shore, stout-soled shoes will often protect the feet from serious injury. Holes should be cut in the shoes to let the water run out when you come ashore.

Coats are needless, and the shirt-sleeves should be rolled up to the shoulder and pinned safely. As for hats or caps, the “polo” cap is perhaps the best, as it does not fall off or blow off, is light, and gives no trouble. So equipped, you will not be exactly costumed for the park or a dinner-party, but as I said before, you must utterly disdain appearances. I have often been taken for a shrimper, and sometimes for a bathing attendant, and accepted the mistake rather as a compliment than otherwise.

You will not have to wade to any great depth in the water, as the objects for which you are searching are mostly to be found in water not more than a few inches in depth, and most of them will be left high and dry by the receding tide.

Always have a local tide-table at hand; generally they can be purchased for a penny or so at any of the stationer’s and there will always be several accessible. Knowledge of the tides is an absolute necessity for the shore-hunter, who will have to regulate his work by the hours of the tide, the half-hour “slack” of low water being worth more to him than all the rest of the day.

“But” some persons may object – and do object – “this shore-hunting interferes with meal-times.” Of course it does, but what of that? People ought not to go to the seaside to carry on the regularity of their town hours; they go for a change, and nothing is a better change than the total abandonment of ordinary habits and customs. Moreover, the genuine shore-hunter troubles himself very little about regular meals, and if he should find himself very hungry while hard at work at low water, he can make a very good luncheon on the limpets and mussels which cling to almost every rock. I have done so many a time, not choosing to waste the invaluable hours in going to my lodgings.

(to be continued)

SHORE-HUNTING by Rev. J G Wood,1879 (continued)

As I said, he will at first experience a feeling of disappointment. Where are the lovely sea anemones which he has admired so much in the aquarium? Where are the Terebellas, the Sabellas, and the Serpulas, with their beautiful fan-like arms?

Where are the Sea Mice, flashing all of the colours of the rainbow from their gorgeous raiment?

Where are the scarcely less splendid Nereids, twining in and out of the rocky crevices, and flinging out unexpected flashes of coloured light as they move?

Where are the wonderful little Cuttles, those chameleons of the sea, flitting as if by magic from spot to spot, and never remaining of the same colour for two consecutive minutes?

Where are the beautiful seaweeds of which he has heard so much? Where are the Cydippes, the Sarsias, the Nudibranchs, and other translucent wonders of the sea? They are all close to him, but he will not see them, or, if he sees them, he will not recognise them.

He will see along the sands a few limpet shells, and plenty of whelk, oyster, periwinkle, and mussel shells, such as may be found in many by-streets of London. These have a curious habit of congregating in certain spots, and after a while the young observer finds out that the inmates of the shells have been consumed on shore, and the shells thrown surreptitiously over the cliff onto the sands.

Smaller shells may also be found, and even in them the observer will find that there is a great difference according to locality. To all appearance, the conditions of the shore are exactly alike at Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate. Yet the pretty little Top shells, which are scarcely to be found at Margate, and are comparatively rare at Ramsgate, except in one or two spots, are exceedingly plentiful at Broadstairs, which lies between them and scarcely a rifle shot from either, as rifles go nowadays.

It is just the same with the Actiniae, or Sea-anemones. The great Thick-horn, or Dahlia Anemone (Bunodes crassicornis), which studs every rock-pool at Ramsgate with its enormous discs of coloured tentacles, is hardly ever seen at Margate.

Similarly, the Snake-lock Anemone (Sagastia viduata) is tolerably common in Ramsgate Harbour, but does not seem to have extended its range as far as Broadstairs. Indeed, it is so local, that I never saw any at Ramsgate except in the harbour.

Then, the rare Peacock’s-tail sea-weed, which is one of the glories of the Devonshire coast, can be found plentifully at Margate; where I believe that I was the first to discover it, and yet, as far as I know, has not been found at Ramsgate or Broadstairs. I have searched for it in both those places at low tide, but never could find it. Even at Margate, by the way, it seems never to be entirely uncovered, and it must be found by touch rather than sight.

Of the varied life which he expects to see, he will find very little. There will be plenty of sand-hoppers jumping about at the edge of the water, and any tuft of seaweed that may be left on the sands will be full of them. The so-called Green Crabs may be seen here and there, and perhaps a stray jelly-fish or star-fish may be lying about on the shore.

This is not an encouraging sight to those who expect to gather a harvest without taking any trouble about it. But as I do not class the readers of this magazine with such lazy people, I will give them a few directions in shore-hunting.

(to be continued)

SHORE-HUNTING By Rev. J. G. Wood

What follows is the first portion of a charming and learned article I discovered in the Boys Own Paper of 1879. It is written by a naturalist who was based in the South of England and contributed regularly to the paper. It gives good advice on rock-pooling much of which still would apply today. The piece is aimed at boys aged approx 10-20 years. Read thoroughly and you will be enlightened in many ways. I shall post one instalment a day in the coming week or so. The image you see is from the paper and introduces the piece with its initial letter "T".

SHORE-HUNTING.

BY THE REV.  J.  G.  WOOD,  M.A.,  F.L.S.

I.                  – THE SEA.

To judge from the number and tenour of letters received on the subject, the love of Natural History in some form is possessed by almost everyone who is not devoid of intellect and observation. But very many of  those who try to give practical effect to their wishes seem to fail at the very outset, and then are discouraged, and leave the study to others whom they believe to be more gifted than themselves.

Especially is this the case with marine zoology. A boy sees an aquarium, is struck with wonder and admiration of the beauty of its inhabitants and determines that as soon as he goes to the seaside he will stock an aquarium of his own.

So he persuades his parents into buying an aquarium at one of the shops, builds up some imitation rockwork in it, and, if he follows the dealer’s directions as he ought to do, he will fill the aquarium with fresh water and let it soak for some time. Then he will empty and rinse it several times, so as to leave it quite clean, and will feel sure that all will be right when he fills it with the abundant harvest which he makes sure of reaping.

He takes with him a supply of nets, cans, baskets, and other appliances. As soon as he arrives at his new lodgings he procures various basins and pans, has them filled with salt water, and off he goes exultingly to the shore, nets, cans, baskets, and all.

Then there gradually settles upon him a cloud of bewildered disappointment.

Perhaps the reader will remember that in my notes on “Pupa Digging” I remarked that the novice is afflicted with the sudden discovery that the world is a wide place, and that pupae are very small objects to find in it. Such are invariably the sensations of the novice at his first essay in “Shore-Hunting.”

Perhaps he goes to some seaside place where the shore is composed of shingles, as it is at Dover, Brighton, etc. Now, a shingly shore mostly has very clear water, and is therefore very pleasant for bathers. But nothing can be worse for the naturalist. A rolling stone gathers no moss on shore, and much less can it gather seaweeds in the water, where every tide rolls it up and down, and grinds off some of its surface by friction against its fellows.

The most prolific of all coasts is a rocky shore, such as that of Devon; and sand, interspersed with chalk rock, like the shore of Margate and Ramsgate, is quite good enough for most purposes. Indeed a beginner can need nothing better; and if he will give a month to a thorough exploration of the shore from Ramsgate to Margate, he will enrich himself with a treasure of practical knowledge which will never desert him, and can always be found useful even among shores of a totally different character.

(to be continued)

Stilts and Stiltsmen

There are few boys who have not attempted to walk on stilts, and fewer still who have felt comfortable when doing so. Stiltwalking is not very exciting as an amusement, except it be from the ever-present danger of falling; but if it were not for this fear of falling the walking would come easier, for astonishing as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that the longer the stilt the easier it is to use.

The ordinary stilt is a stick about five feet long, with a block of wood screwed to its side about a foot from the ground, This is the safest kind, and the most difficult to walk with; for as soon as the boy thinks he is about to fall, instead of bringing the other leg to support him as he would if he were walking, he simply jumps off.

Another kind has a leather strap fastened to the stick  in the form of a loop. This is not so safe as the former, and quite as difficult to manage unless the loop be much higher up; it is, as the tradesmen say, "not recommended."

The easiest stilt to walk with is that which has the block about a yard from the ground, and has the upper end attached to the leg below the knee, so that the stilt becomes the prolongation of the lower half of the leg. With a pair of stilts strapped on in this manner, and a long stick as a rest and balancing pole, it is astonishingly easy not only to keep one's balance, but to move along freely. However, we do not suppose that everyone will believe this, or have the pluck to try it, and as much of the skill in stilt-walking depends on individual aptitude, we must be content to leave the matter very much as it was - after duly cautioning our readers against the very dangerous loop system. And now for a few words on stilts in general.

It is a remarkable thing that stilts are peculiar to no clime or country. They are like the British dominions on which the sun does not set. Wherever there are low lands there seems to be stilts. Even in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, the South Sea islander, though guiltless of boots, has worn the stilt for ages.

One of the Marquesas is the small island of Santa Christina, which is flat, and in the rainy season marshy; and from her a collection of stilts has come which is in the British Museum. The footrests of these stilts are in the form of an idol wearing a mitred cap, and these hard wood carvings are lashed on to bamboo poles about six feet high and three inches thick. On these stilts in the rainy period the natives settle their differences, and a free fight is not unusual.

In some of the islands stilts are used for ceremonial purposes only, the idea being to make the people taller; in much the same way as ladies wear high heels to their shoes. This is a very old device, which we hear of on the Pacific coasts of Asia and America as well as in Italy and Greece. In China, Japan, and India, there have apparently been acrobats on stilts from time immemorial. But we nee not keep so far afield.

The Stilt Fight at Namur

At Namur in Belgium, owing to the periodical floods of the Sambre and Meuse turning the roads into marshes and streams, it has been for years the practice for people to go about either in boats or on stilts. And concerning this practice there is a story and an anniversary. It appears that in the days of the Archduke Albert, the Governor of Namur promised to send that great man a troop of men-at-arms who were neither on foot nor on horseback, and made good his word  by ordering up two companies of stiltsmen, who went through their drill so well that the delighted Archduke took off the town beer-tax, very much to the gratification of the aforesaid stiltsmen and their relatives. And in memory of this there is every year held in Namur a stilt-fight, in which two companies of men in mediaeval costume fight a more or less sham battle, their sisters and cousins and aunts acting as an ambulance brigade, and setting them up on their stilts whenever they topple over.

Namur is not the only place with a stilt anniversary. At Brive LA Gaillarde, the schoolboys have a holiday on which they go out into the country with stilts and long sticks and hunt for snakes, returning to terrify the women and children with their captures caught on the end of the sticks.

The Snake Hunters of Brive La Gaillarde

To walk from Paris to Moscow on stilts is rather an undertaking, and yet it was recently done in fifty-eight days by Sylvain Dornon, who left Paris on March 12 last. He was a Landais, and had gone about on stilts from babyhood, as many of his fellow countrymen still do, though not as many as fromerly. In the old days the markets at Bayonne and Bordeaux were frequented by peasants who came in on stilts from thirty and even sixty miles around, carrying their sacks and baskets of goods to sell; but now the peasant comes by rail and leaves his stilts at home for use in his daily work.

He calls them his "tchangues," or big legs, or rather big shanks. They are long sticks a yard and a half high, with a step for the feet, and near the top they are made flat so as to be strapped against the leg. At the other end by way of ferrule there is sheep-bone.

To get on these stilts he uses a step or a window-sill. When he has mounted them by the side of his hut his wife hands him up his wallet and gourd, which he slings on one of his shoulders; a gun is often handed up next, and that he slings on the other; then an old blue cotton umbrella is handed aloft and slung alongside the gun; and then to make the outfit complete there comes afrying-pan hung well at the back. His usual coat is of dirty white sheepskin, and if only his stilts were red he would look like a flamingo striding about, for although he takes very little steps with his legs he takes very long ones with his prolongations, and covers quite a couple of yards at every stride. Besides the stilts he carries with him a long stick which serves as a shepherd's crook, and, with a seat at the top, for something to sit on with a fair amount of security.

These Landais have, of course, taken to stilts not from choice, but because they could not help it. The ground is sandy and marshy, and the half-dry marshes are rich in herbage only in the summer, while the sand is dotted with furze bushes and thickets. Roads are unknown; and in this doubtful soil a man on stilts has an advantage; he cares not for thorn, he cares not for stone, he strides through thick marshes where ford there is none.

When a Landais on stilts is in a hurry he can move as fast as any man in Gascony. In 1808 the Empress Josephine went to meet Napoleon at Bayonne, and the Landais sent her an escort of stiltsmen who kept up alongside the carriage at a walk though the horses were at a trot; and when they ran they outstripped the whole cavalcade. Not only will a Landais run on the stilts, but he will dance on them, and even jump, but the athletics sports at the seaside towns are mostly in the hands of professionals, and these are - well, they are not always Landais.

"The shepherd," we read, "who have used stilts all their lives would feel like fish out of water if they were to follow their sheep on foot. Even in the wooded districts from which sheep have nearly disappeared, giving place to cattle, the herdsman is frequently mounted on stilts as he accompanies his roaming animals while they crop the undergrowth of the forest. Perhaps the brutes themselves would no longer respect him if they had not to look up to him!"

The Boy's Own Paper, Saturday, November 21, 1891.