The London Welshman

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Notes from South Wales. (From our Special Correspondent.) The Rev. Evan Phillips. Great interest was taken in West Wales Calvinistic Methodist circles in respect to the presentation to the Rev. Evan Phillips at New- castle Emlyn last week. There is not a Non- conformist minister in Wales who is more honoured than the Rev. Evan Phillips, of New- castle Emlyn, and his many admirers felt it was a real pleasure to contribute towards the presenta- tion. He is honest to the core, a sincere friend, and a preacher of great power. May he be spared many more years to preach the gospel of Christ in its impressive simplicity. A Romantic Curiosity. There are few Welshmen who do not know those lines of Will Hopkin :— Myfi sydd fachgen ifanc ffol, Yn caru'n ol fy tfansi, Mi yn bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn Ac arall yn ei fedi. 0 pam na ddeui ar fy ol, Rhyw ddydd, ar ol ei gilydd, Gwaeth 'rwy'n dy wel'd y feinir fach Yn lanach, lanach beunydd." Ann Thomas, of Cefn Ydfa, or "the Maid of Cefn Ydfa," as she is now known to the public memory, fell deeply in love with Will Hopkin, a workman with a gift for poetry. Secret meet- ings were arranged in the woods, but these clandestine meetings got to the ears of the unfortunate maid's mother, and she was sub- sequently debarred from further meeting her lover, and compelled to marry Anthony Maddocks, the son of a wealthy solicitor. How the poor Maid of Cefn Ydfa died of a broken heart some two years after her loveless marriage, and how Will Hopkin was sent for to solace her in her last hours are facts which are, doubtless, conversant to many readers of these notes. What I wish to point out, however, is the very interesting fact that two or three weeks ago the Cardiff Free Library authorities were instru- mental in securing the original copy of the Maid of Cefn Ydfa's marriage settlement with Anthony Maddocks. It is now permanently on view in the Cardiff Free Library, and readers of the LONDON WELSHMAN when visiting this admirable institution should not fail to see the same. It occupies four pages of vellum, and is in excellent preservation. It bears the signa- tures of both the Maid of Cefn Ydfa and Anthony Maddocks. Truth is stranger than fiction, and this Welsh romance is intensely pathetic. The Maid of Cefn Ydfa and Will Hopkin are both buried at Llangynwyd Church- yard, some six miles from Bridgend, and up to late years beautiful flowers were regularly laid on the gravestone of the former. Poor Will Hopkin's burial place is unrecognisable. 4' Y ddau wahanwyd gan y byd Briodwyd gan y bedd." Welsh Manufactured Fabrics. Speaking at a recent gathering in connection with the Welsh Industries Association in Glamorganshire, Mr. Fletcher, nephew to Miss Talbot, appealed to the wealthy classes of Wales to purchase Welsh manufactured fabrics instead of going to Paris for their material. This is sound advice. In the past the tendency of the wealthier residents of Wales was to send away for practically everything they wanted. By encouraging home industries they will be conferring a benefit upon the Principality, and, at the same time, obtain an article quite equal to that made abroad. Aberdare County School. As already noted in the LONDON WELSHMAN, Mr. W. Jenkyn Thomas, M.A., late headmaster of the above school-one of the very best in Wales-has been appointed headmaster of the Grocers' Company School in North London. Mr. Jenkyn Thomas' successor is Mr. W. Charlton Cox, M. A., who was second master at the Aberdare school for several years. Mr, Cox, who is a brilliant scholar, is a nephew of the late Rev: Samuel Cox, M.A., for many years editor of the Expositor and the author of "Salvator Mundi," and other publications. It is interesting to note that Mr. W. Charlton Cox has, during his residence in Aberdare, learnt Welsh, and can now both read and speak it with considerable fluency. Gross Superstition. Last week there was unveiled at Llanthony a statue to "a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary." The Rev. Mr. Lyne, otherwise "Father Ignatius," alleges to have seen in the month of August, 1880, a bush in the vicinity illumined with phosphorescent light," whilst from the centre of the bush itself there appeared "the figure of the blessed Virgin Mary with upraised hands, as if in blessing." It is further alleged that other occupants of the monastery, which Father Ignatius possesses in the locality, also saw the vision. The result was the erection of the statue already alluded to. That "Father Ignatius" is a very upright man and an eloquent preacher there is no doubt, but people who believe that his apparition was real must be surprisingly simple-minded. It is ridiculous and absurd on the face of it. Let us take a common- sense and enlightened view of religion. "Y nos a gerddodd yn mhell, a'r dydd a nesaodd am hynny bwriwn oddi wrthym weithredoedd y tywyllwch a gwisgwn arfau y goleuni." About Apparitions. Father Ignatius's" story as to the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary" reminds one of Mr. Crofton Croker's book of Fairy Legends published some 70 years ago. In this book it is related how some superstitious farmers living in the Vale of Neath swore that they had not only seen the Tylwyth Teg (Fairies) in the mountains of that district, but had also heard their enchanting music." One old dame- Old Shone, of Blaenllanby- related with great sincerity and earnestness how she had seen a long cavalcade of very diminutive persons, riding four abreast, and mounted upon small white horses, uot bigger than dogs. They disappeared near the Sarn Helen, which they seemed to be traversing." These farmers and their wives were quite as emphatic in their declarations that they had seen these "fairies" as the Monks of Llanthony are in their assertions as to the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary." A Superstitious Locality. Superstition seems to have had a pretty good hold on the Llanthony district. For instance, some miles beyond the Abbey in a southern direction is the Scyrrid Fawr, the Holy Mount," which may be seen from the town of Abergavenny. Not so many years ago it was customary with farmers and peasantry in the district to send for sackloads of earth out of the fissure of this Holy Mount," which they sprinkled over their stables, pigsties, and even houses to avert evil, especially reserving portions of it to strew over the coffins and graves of themselves and their relatives. One would reasonably expect that with the spread of education, superstition would have been entirely eradicated from South Wales and Monmouth- shire by this time but last week's ceremony shows that such is not the case. Welsh Church Mediocrities. The Vicar of St. Mary's, Bangor, deserves praise for his courageous protest against the Welsh Anglican Church being made the dump- ing ground for clerical mediocrities from over the border. There is no doubt--and everybody who knows anything at all about Wales will agree-that the Anglican Church authorities have done their utmost in the past to foist English clergymen upon the Anglican Cathedrals and Churches in Wales. Welsh clergymen, racy of the soil, with a knowledge of Welsh, and in sympathy with the national characteristics of the Welsh people have been deliberately ignored in favour of outsiders, who do their utmost to stamp out everything Welsh. Need one, con- sequently, be surprised that the Anglican Church in Wales has lost its affections upon the Welsh people, and is principally the church of what are known in Ireland as Shoneens." It is true that the Anglican Bishops of Llandaff, Bangor, St. Asaph, and St. David's are good Welshmen but this is more of an accident than anything else, and it is a well-known fact that a desperate effort was made to get an outsider for the bishopric of Llandaff a short time ago; the attempt, fortunately, failing. There are Welsh clergymen to-day, excellent bilinguial preachers- and nationalists, occupying obscure little country churches and curacies, whilst the largest churches in the towns are principally occupied by men who affect a supercilious contempt for everything Cymric, and treat the Welsh lan- guage and Welsh literature with contempt. Need anybody be surprised that the real National Churches of Wales are the Calvinistic Methodist, the Independent, the Baptist, and the Wesleyan Churches, which have always encouraged National talent, the National lan- guage and National characteristics generally. Had the Anglican Church authorities displayed a similar regard for Welsh Nationalism in the past, that Church would be six times stronger in Wales than she isto day. Moreover, it is these alien mediocrities who are chiefly responsible for the introduction of childish ritualistic customs and practices into various Anglican Churches in Wales. The genuine Welsh clergy- man is invariably an Evangelistic one. He preaches the simple gospel of Christ, and does not attempt to make religion a ceremony of candle lighting, incense swinging, and glittering processions.