The London Welshman

Notes from South Wales. (From our Special Correspondent,) Much Obliged. I am obliged to Mr. Beynon Davies, of Vauxhall Park, London, for pointing out in the last issue of the LONDON WELSHMAN, that the amusing Boarding House Geometry," which I quoted from Cap and Gown, the magazine of the South Wales University College, was not original, having already appeared in the Morning Leader. It is thus evident that I attributed to the contributors of Cap and Gown a gift of humour which they were not entitled to. Pot Calling the Kettle Black. The impertinence of Mr. Gibson's Aberystwyth weekly is proverbial. In its last issue, the editor refers to the rabid, unjust, and discreditable tactics of Cardiff," in reference to the National Library and Museum. But in another column of the issue, the same writer refers to the shady supporters of Cardiff who have been forced to eat their own muck." Whatever Cardiff newspaper writers and public men may have written and said in belittlement of Aber- ystwyth, it is certain that they have not equalled the scurrility of Mr. Gibson's weekly. Shady supporters and muck are positively beastly. There is no other word that will fittingly describe such language. Welsh Cloth. In the last issue of the LONDON WELSHMAN I referred to the excellent work that was being accomplished by the Welsh Industries Associa- tion. An incident has just come to my knowledge that tends to further emphasise that work. When Princess Christian and Princess Victoria visited Cardiff lately, they made an inspection of the Welsh Industries Association's depot at Queen Street, in that town. They were shown some specimens of Welsh woven cloth, and both ladies expressed themselves delighted with the same. In fact, Princess Christian ordered two costumes of the material, one a pale blue manufactured by a Cardiff maker, and the other a mauve manufactured by Mr. D. Thomas, of the Caedraw Factory, Merthyr. Too Clever By Half. The writer of the Notes in the Llanelly Guardian is too clever by half. In the last issue of that sheet, he tries to ridicule Mr. Llewellyn Williams' series of stories which ^•ppeared in recent issues of the LONDON WELSHMAN. The one he particularly dwells upon is How Bill Isaac played for Wales." vUoting the following from the story He Jyas a grand football player, but unpushful," hls extraordinarily clever writer remarks How man who was unpushful' was a grand ^otballer is rather a poser." Not at all my ever Llanelly friend. A man may be modest or "unpushful" in his private life, but, at the rue time, be a fair demon for pushing on the ootball field. The Llanelly Guardian, with cha,racteristic stupidity, has failed to see the Point. This is not the first time that it has Iaued to do so. Welsh National Rifle Association. This recently formed Association seems to be is^ln £ something like a start. The Secretary 1 ^Pt* St. Leger Davies. The Committee are ln§ out for a suitable range whereon the Sev°Clat^°n can hold its shooting competitions. pre 6 s'tes have been suggested, but up to the ent> ^e only one which seems to be favour- Pom entertained is the one at Cwmlicky, ttior ^>00^ It will be a pity, however, if a is Central site cannot be obtained. Pontypool Wai *n extreme south-eastern part of esj and a rifle meeting would not attain to any national importance if held in a town so ill-sicuated. Is there no suitable site in Car- marthen, or the Vale of Towy, for example? And what about Swansea ? "Soldiers of the King." It is a scandalous scheme that so many British soldiers should be allowed to end their days within the dreary walls of the Union Workhouse. There has just died in Llanelly Workhouse an old veteran of 78, who served over 22 years in a British regiment, and took part in the Crimean War. He was in receipt of a pension of tenpence a day, part of which was retained by the Board of Guardians for his maintenance in the house. Why do the shrieking jingoes of the great Constitutional party not take up the subject of old soldiers by way of proving the sincerity of their "intense patriotism." The Visit of General Buller. In reterence to the forthcoming visit of General Buller to the Rhondda Valley, under the auspices of the Rhondda Cymmrodorion Society, as briefly referred to in these Notes last week, I now understand that the General will be accompanied by Lady Buller, and that the distinguished visitors will be the guests of Judge Gwilym Williams at Miskin Manor. The Rhondda colliers always admire soldiers of the bulldog pluck of General Buller, and it is evident that his visit is attracting even more enthusiasm than the visits of the other distinguished visitors who have already visited the Rhondda on previous occasions under the auspices of the same Society. By the way, the leading British Generals will be very much in evidence in our gallant little country this year, for, in addition to the visit of General Buller to the Rhondda, Lord Roberts is also to visit Llanelly, and General Baden Powell is to visit Cardiff. Birds' Nests. I knew an elderly gentleman at Cardigan who made it an annual custom to find six birds' nests. He told me that he had done this for well nigh twenty years, and had never failed to accomplish his object. I have not seen him, however, for the last nine years, having left the district, but I have no doubt that he keeps up the custom still, assuming that he is in good health. Talking about birds' nests, I happened to be up in the Merthyr district the other day, and I was told that a pair of blackbirds had built a nest on the teeth of a hay rake placed against the wall of a farm building in the out- skirts of the town. The nest contains four eggs, and, despite the curiosity of visitors, the henbird is not to be frightened out of the nest. The Popular Threepenny=Bit. The Vicar of St. Michael's Church, Aberyst- wyth, remarked at the recent vestry meeting, that the threepenny-bit was still very fashionable, as many as 8,220 threepenny-bits having been placed in the collection bags during the past year. He (the vicar) added that he could not understand how people could give threepenny- bits out of three-and-sixpenny gloved hands." I can explain that point, I believe. People who go to the Church of England know full well that she has great wealth which is chiefly squandered on bishops' salaries and palaces, and similar superfluities, so they (the people) do not think it necessary that they should contribute much under the circumstances. Let the church be disestablished, and the useless ecclesiastical paraphernalia abolished, and the people who go to the church in question, will give far more generously than they do at present.