The London Welshman

Notes from South Wales. (From our Special Correspondent.) That is So. Some people who have been abroad arrive home with an inflated idea of their own impor- tance, as if five minutes in America or Africa could make gentlemen of them. Nature's gentlemen are few and far between. "-Polily- pridd Observer. Too Premature. Already the shops are gay with Xmas cards, Xmas numbers, Xmas presents, aye and even Xmas puddings. Seeing that we have not yet reached mid-November, this is rather premature to say the least. Welsh Mottoes. Over the chimney in the great parlour of Cefn Mably, the ancient South Wales ancestral home of the Kemey's family, is inscribed the follow- ing Ami ei goed Am ei dan." [" He that hath plenty of wood has fire enough."] Why? A writer in a Railway Journal asks a question which I have often asked myself, and so, doubt- less, have many readers of the LONDON WELSH- MAN. Here it is :If people can travel com- fortably in one class in omnibuses, tramcars, and tubes, why must they have three classes by railway ? Worth Repeating. "The present situation was a test of their loyalty to principle, to country, and to faith. They must not, and would not yield nor give up the fight until they had secured a national system of education, free from priestly inter- ference, and under complete and undisputed popular control."—Mr. D. P. Williams, chair- man of the Carnarvonshire Education Com- mittee, at Harlech. Hardy Annuals. Once a year a rumour goes forth that Car- diganshire is to have a new railway that Sir Alfred Harmsworth is to start a new daily at Cardiff; and that an "influential company" is to develop the peat fields at Tregaron. To the list of these hardy annual rumours must now be added a tourth, viz., a scheme for a Cardigan shire and North Pembrokeshire service of motor cars. Dancing in the Churchyards. Even as late as 98 years ago, dancing used to be indulged in some of the Welsh church- yards. Here is an extract from Malkin's "South Wales," published in the year 1807 :—■ "The custom of dancing in the churchyard at their feasts and revels is universal in Radnor- shire, and very common in other parts of the Principality. Indeed, this solemn abode is rendered a kind of circus for every sport and exercise. The young men play at fives and tennis against the wall of the church. It is not, however, to be understood that they literally dance over the graves of their progenitors. The amusement takes place on the north side of the .churchyard, where it is the custom not to bury. It is rather singular, however, that the association of the place surrounded by memorials of mortality, should not deaden the impulses of joy in minds, in other respects not insensible to the suggestions of vulgar superstition." Misrepresentation. The philistine's organ—the Cambrian News, is continually misrepresenting the national claims of Welshmen. The other day, the vicar of St. Mary's, Bangor, very properly complained of the deliberate manner in which Welsh clergy- men were ignored in the matter of preferments, and pointed out how Bangor Cathedral was monopolised by English clergymen from over the border. Mr. Gibson's paper thereupon accused the vi-ar of raising the cry of Wales for the Welsh which was a gross misrepre- sentation. At the recent Llandaff Diocesan Conference, the Rev. Lemuel James, M.A., curate of Barry, made a similar complaint, and pleaded for more equitable recognition of Welsh clergymen, when the question of filiing up "desirable posts" came to be considered by the ecclesiastical authorities. And in this instance again, Mr. Gibson's paper accused Mr. James of raising the same cry The Real Facts. This is what Mr. James did say :—" His complaint was, that knowing the poverty of the Church, knowing there were so few livings worth having, those in authority brought men from England to fill those livings that were worth having, and passed over men who, in time of adversity and reproach, had given everything they had--money, time, ability—to the service of their own Mother Church in Wales. He did not believe in the cry of Wales for the Welsh, and was careful to say so. They welcomed their English friends to work with them, but, what they wanted, was equal rewards for equal work." It will be seen from the above, that Mr. James did not do what the Aberystwyth journalistic humbug alleged he did. Welshmen do not raise the cry of Wales for the Welsh. What they urge, and rightly urge, is fair play and equitable treatment They have not been getting it in the pa; t And it is a curious fact that a paper published in a Welsh town like Aberystwyth should be one of the strongest opponents of Welsh national justice. English Poets. In conversation with a bookseller, at one of the South Wrales industrial towns, I asked him who was the favourite English poet with his customers. He replied: that it was Longfellow. Longfellow's descriptions of nature are unques- tionably beautiful, and the Welshman, as a rule, is a strong lover of nature. What better describes days such as we have have been experiencing lately than these lines:- The day is cold, and dark, and dreary, It rains, and the wind is never weary The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But at every gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreary. My life is cold, and dark, and dreary, It rains, and the wind is never weary My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past, But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, And the days are dark and dreary. Be still, sad heart and cease repining, Behind the clouds is the sun still shining Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.