The North Wales Express

PERSONAL AND GENERAL. ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. .{Contributions of ifems of interest for insertion in this column invit u."| Last Sunday a collection was made in the different cb xpils and churchet at Carnarvon in aid of the func.3 rf the Cottage Hospital. The Carnarvon Vccal Union wil' take part in a forthcoming concert proposed to be held in aid of •the Cottage Hospital. By permission of the Dean, Dr Roland Rogers, on Monday, commenced a series ot free org&n recitals in Bangor Cathedral. Mr W. Davies, who was at one time a member of the cathedral choir, was the vocalist. Mr W. T. Jones, a native of Aberystwyth, and now of Melbourne, Australia, has generously un- dertaken to complete the inner ornamental roof of the large central hall of the new buildings of Aber ystwyth University College, at a cost of £ 500. At the Llanfyllin Petty Sessions, the magis- trates imposed a fine of JE5, including costs, or, in default, one month's imprisonment on one Samuel Hancock, who was charged with poaching. S One of the magistrates (Mr John Jones), how- ever, said be was sorry to take such a course, and in duty to Irm? df he was bound to express his disagreement with the amount of the fine. After much discussion and voting, the Roman Catholics of Denbigh succeeded in securing from the Denbigh Town Council a portion of the public cemetery to set apart for their exclusive use. Oa Sunday the ceremony of consecration took place, and this being the first servica of that kind within the memory of any inhabitant, i- attracted a crowd of persons of all denomina- tions, the large majority present being Pro- t33tants. Numerous and strange are the superstitions which in some parts of the country still attach to the circumstances attending the birth of a child. It is believed by many that if a child cries at birth, and lifts up only one hand, it is borne to command. It is considered very unlucky not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. When first dressed the clothes should not be put on over the head, but drawn on over the feet, for luck. When first taken from the room in which it was born, it must be carried upstairs before going down, so that it will rise in the world. In any case, it must be carried upstairs or up the street, not downstairs or down the street, the first time it is taken out. It is also considered unlucky to cut the baby's nails or hair before it is twelve months old. Born on Monday, fair in the face Born on Tuesday, full of Gon's grace Born on Wednesday, the best to be had Born on Thii, ay, merry and glad Born on Friday, worthily given Born on Saturday, work hard for a living Born on Sunday, ,h..ll never know want, is known with very few changes all over the Christ- ian world; one deviation makes Friday's child free in giving." Thursday has one very lucky hour just before sunrise. The child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and good, and blythe and gay, While He who is born on New Year's morn Will have his own way as sure as you're born. And He who is b5rn on an Easter morn Shall never know care or want or harm. It would be interesting to know the particular superstitions attached to the event in various parts of Wales. Writing to the Daily News on Tenors," Mr 32. Davidson Palmer, Mus. Bac., Oxon, observes: As one who has studied the art of voice-training for ears, will you allow me to say a few words on this sub- {ect?' The reason of the scarcity of good tenors is a much simpler one than is commonly supposed. It is not ^hat there are few voices of the tenor c^uality^ it is that such voices are nearly always wrongly trained and mis- used. This is owing to the opinion, everywhere prevalent, that men should use what is called "chestvoice." Thousands of good tenor voices are being injured, and many completely ruined, in music schools and academies all over the country, year after year, sine ply because teachers, almost without exception, train men's voices on this principle. Pupils are told that men possess two qualities of voice, viz.. "chest-voice" and "falsetto," and are taught to believe that the former is the right voice to use and the latter the wrong one; that the former is natural -<nd the latter artificial. This belief, however, is altogether erroneous. When a boy's voice changes (or "breaks to use the more familiar though less accurate term) he feels as though he had two separate voices, the lower part of his vocal compass being thick and heavy in aualitv. the upper part being thin and light; the lower part seeming to be the beginning of the new man's voice, the upper part seeming to be (as it is) the remains of the old child's voice the two voices not Wending but over- lapping Now the former of these voices, commonly called the "cheqt voice," is the wrong voice to train and develop; the latter, occasionally termed "head-voice," but most frequently known as "falsetto," is the right one. The more the "chest-voice" is used the weaker will it become and the more decided will be the "break" be- tween the two voices. On the other hand, the more the « head" or "falsetto" voice is used the stronger will it be- come and (if trained downwards instead of upwards) the Vss decided will be the "break." until in course of time it will disappear, and there will be but one quality of voice throughout the entire compass—not 'falsetto, but a pure, round flexible voice, which will never wear out while bodily' health and strength remain. This is a fact which I have proved by experience, and it is none the less true because it is not generally known. But it may be asked, Would not this wrong method of training affect bass voices as well as tenors? Why. then, should there not be a scarcity of good basses ? The answer is that it does affect their quality to some extent, but th* bass voice is a much stronger voice than tenor and will bear a much greater strain. Moreover, it is not forced up like the tenor voice, the high notes being only occasional, not frequent and long continued as in tenor music. Conse- quently basses and baritones, although frequently wrongly used, will stand years and years of wear and tear, while tanor voices will succumb to ill-usage in a very short time. In conclusion, then. I repeat that it is not that there is any dearth of voices of the tenor quality, but that these voices are trained on a false method. There is no lack of good material, but it is spoilt in the making up. Commenting upon the life of the late Welsh scholar Gweirydd ap Rhys, a correspondent says: —I think that sufficient ciedit is not generally given to the effort* of Welshmen m the direction of self culture. The position some of the Welsh literati of the age have attained not only without any special advantages, but in the face of evident disadvantages, reflects the highest credit upon their perseverance and genius. One such pro- minent figure has just passed away in the person of Gweirydd ap Rhys, ?ne of the most volnminpas authors, and whose writings in Welsh and English bwe obtained a well deserved celebrity. Like many more of his countrymen of whom the annals of the Principality furnish so many instances as having attained honourable positions in the world of letters, Gweirydd was entirely self-taught, havm* h*», we believe, not one day a schooling m life However, by hisundaunted perseverance, which indeed w one of the principal traits of his character during his whole life he succeeded in ^quiring a large amount of knowledge, which he utilised for the benefit of his fellow-countrymen, and by means of his numerous writings, •although dpad he still speaketh to them H.s mother tongue naturally engaged his attention in Ss early years, and for the last forty years he was considered an authority in everything connected with it* srramn.Hr, orthography, &c. He was also fVt. iTnoVah V1 lar, and bad m?.de some pro less ia the study of Latin and Greek. Atone timea'<» the a-nnc of music had its charms for him and we believe he composed a few piece?, 5, conditional tunes, and_ a'so wrot, several article* nr. the theory of music to some of JhlnM nv.it>4z n*s. His favourite pursuits, how- ever were «.i.raar and history- and uis contnbu Ss to W*lah literature in those* departments ™ ;«rv nnrnert v;s and highly appreciated, and £ *t!i, lv moPt..red- able to him. Th, time at his diW! for I terary iabour was very limited we ein SeM imagine, having to work hare: at h* trade of X'r g arid bring up a large family f chxtoren, whom he educated with much car? and at no little sacrifice. The Rev T. Jones, curate of Aber, has been licensed to the curacy of Conway. During the construction of the foundations of the new infectious diseases hospital at Carnarvon, the workmen Citne across a portion of ,an old Roman road, in a good state of p-?o vation, and believed to be tha.t connecting Caerhun, the Roman Canoviam, with Segontium, the Boman Carnarvon. The parish church of Lianelidan is now under going restoration, and while the men were engaged in pulling down the north wall they came across a quantity of human bones laid in a recess built on four sides into the wall, and having a stone lid over. They are supposed by an authority to be the relics of old saints," hidden in this manner for safety from iconoclastic rage. It is certain that they must have reposed there for centuries. They are supposed to have lain at first under the altar, whence they were removed to the north wall. Toe church is one of the oldest in the diocese of St. Asaph. It is said that Bishop Lewis of Llandaff is of the opinion that the patronage of all livings should be vested in the Bishops, and Y Oenedl Gymreiq thitiks he is right for once. We differ from them both (remarks the Aberystwyth Observer), ard believe that Bishops should not be encumbered with any patronage whatever, and that they should be purely spiritual advisers and overseers. The patron of many livings, who is unavoidably continually importuned with letters respecting preferment, cannot be a spiritual adviser in the fullest and best sense. There is a danger of Bishops becoming distributors of the loaves and fishes, and servers at tables, to the neglect of their more important pastoral duties. Considerable commotion has been created in the neighbourhood of Salisbury by a case of sup- posed witchcraft at Homington, a village about four miles from the city. The person said to have been bewitched was a little girl named Lydia Hewlett, aged nine, and her father is a Primitive Methodist local preacher. Some time ago the girl saw a gipsy steal some onions belonging to a neighbour, and subsequently mysterious knockings were heard in the cottage where she dwelt. S'1me boards of the bedroom where they seemed to be were pulled up, but the rappings were not explained, and by and by it was noticed that the noises seemed to follow, as it were, the little girl. These knockings were, it seems, generally heard near the girl, and when no one else was in the room, but it has been alleged that when someone else has bean with her the rapping has been heard. Someone conceived the idea that the child was bewitched, and a number of questions were put to the supposed spirit. According to the replies (given by means of knocks) the gipsy was the the supposed spirit. According to the replies (given by means of knocks) the gipsy was the cause of all the trouble. She (the gipsy) had dark hair, was 4ft. 8in. in height, was married, bad seven children, and was 26 years of age (the num- ber of years being indicated by 26 raps). The questions were preceded by the words In the Dame of our Lbrd." Canon Kingsbury heard knocks and believed the girl herself did not cause them, but another clergyman with him was more sceptical. The Rev J. Harper, a Primitive Methodist minister, also heard knocking, and did not believe that there was any shamming on the part of the girl. A doctor who visited her believed that she herself did it. Superintendent Stephens, of the county police, went to the cottage with the determination of finding out if there was any deception, and he stood at the foot of the stairs and watched the girl whilst listening to the knock- ing, but saw nothing suspicious in her conduct, and believes that she herself did not do it. One night when two mqn were in the same room as the girl mysterious knocking was heard. The girl (who looked ill and weary) has been admitted into the infirmary at Salisbury, and the strange sounds at Homington have now ceased, whilst she herself is very much better than at the time of her admission.1 Dr Cynddylan Jones, in his criticism of the Church Congress held at Cardiff last week, had the following anent the Archbishop of Canter- bury :-Dr Benson has a determined, intelligent countenance, being evidently a man of great force of will, the determination being stamped on the lower part of the face and his high intelligence beaming from his forehead. I should say the force of his will is greater than the power of his brain. Let no one think this a derogatory remark, for will power, being closely allied to morality, ranks higher than brain power, and carries man nearer the Divine. That Church is on the down grade which values Brain above Will. I do not expect to find in him a mighty pulpit orator-he is none of that; but still he is an able speaker, capable of speaking the truth," not only with power, but in love." I valued the sermon much more for the fine Christian spirit it displayed than for the truths it contained. The manifold historical slips in the discourse were almost inevitable when a stranger was dealing with the history of the Welsh Church; but manifestly the archbishop bore to us all a message of love and peace. In this day's papers we read that his Grace has written a letter to the chairman of the English Congregational Union, requesting a kind of re- union and loving co-operation. His request has been denied; but it redounds boundless credit on him that he has made it. High dignitaries in Wales pray end labour for the coming of this Millennium. They have made several advances to Nonconformists. Are we to meet them in a spirit of sullen resentment 1 I do not call for the sacrifice of one iota of truth on the part of anyone; but surely we can meet on the common platform of the fundamental doctrines. No one joined more heartily than my Nonconformist self in the recital of the Apostles' Creed to day; almost every Dissenter in Wales believes in it. Why, then, estrangement and bitterness ? We may, and do, differ in respect of tithes and the connection between the Church and State, but we all agree as to the fundamental doctrines and the connection between the Church and God; and in my humble opinicn the time has arrived when mutual love should reign supreme, without doing the slightest damage to our personal convictions on the minor questions of Church and State. Believe me, love is the only solvent of our difficulties. But whilst according heartiest praise to the archbishop for the Christian breadth of hh sentiments, yet I expected more about Christ and less about the Church. Did he name the name of Christ at all ? Did he make any direct reference to the Saviour ? I cannot remember it; and the omission struck me strongly during the delivery of the discourse. The Church with a capital C occurred in almost every sentence, but the Christ not once. And if my clerical friends will allow me, I will venture to say that in their preaching the Church is in danger of overshadowing the Christ-the Church, Church, Church forever, devotion to the Church taking the place of devotion to the Christ. In another of his articles in the Western Mail on the Church Congress at Cardiff, Dr Cynddylan Jones remarks :-It is not my intention in this article to discuss the particular proceedings of Thursday; but, as we are within one day of the end, I may be permitted to indulge in a few general reflections. First, the visit of the Congress to Cardiff cannot but impress the mind with the marvellous strength of the Church—its strength in numbers, wealth, and scholarship. Some splendid speakers have addressed the meetings; and what- ever may be said in disparagement of the oratory of the average clergyman, it is clear that the Church has men who for gracefulness of diction and fluency of speech will hold their own by the side of the most accomplished speakers in D;s- sent Still, it were well for the Welsh Church specially to pay particular heed to the wise counsel of Dr Walters to stir up the gift of utterance in the younger clergy. In Wales the Dissenting oiinieter has in the pulpit and on the platform a cotnmand of self aud of language which the clergy- man too often lacks, arising not from greater in- nate capacity, but from greater practice. A preacher should be apt to teach;" this "aptness," however, is not a Divine gift, but the result of assiduous cultivation on his part. At the same time, Gjd preserve us from pulpit rhetoricians who study the mechanics of oratory without the ¡ corresponding dynamic power. What is eloquence? Giifiilan answers, Logic set on fire." During the past quarter several contributions of valuable books have been made to the North Wales College Library. Sir Robert Cunliffe is to be asked to open the Wrexham Free Circulating Library on the 28th inst. Several parents were summoned before the Car- narvon County Magistrates' Court on Saturday, at the instance of the Lianddeiniolen School Board, for not sending their children to school. The Revs Dr E. Herber Evans and R. Roberts, Rhos, preached at the anniversary of the Welsh Congregational Church at Llandudno on Wednes- day. A great political demonstration is to be held at Wrexham on November 4tb, when the principal speaker will be :Lord Cross, Secretary of State for India. At the Conway Town Council on Tuesday, a vote of condolence with the relatives of the late Alderman William Jones was passed. The deceased had been an alderman of the borough since its incorporation. p During service at Ebenezer chapel, Rhosddu, Wrexham, on Sunday, q man named Robert Jones was seen to fali down suddenly. He was carried into the vestry and four doctors were immediately in attendance, but he never rallied. The deceased was employed as a clerk at Messrs H. and T. Jones's shop in Wrexham. The people of Llanaelhaiarn are at loggerheads with Mr George Farren owing to the refusal of that gentleman to permit the landing of coal laden vessels at his quay. Mr Farren sells coal himself, and to this the inhabitants attribute his refusal. Two Parliamentary contests have taken place this week, viz., those of Peterborough and Elgin and Nairn. At Peterborough Mr Morton (G.L.) snatched the seat from the Conservative party; while at Elgin and Nairn, Mr J. S. Keay (G.L.) was returned by a majority of 529, the Liberal' majority at the previous election being 119. Mr James Charle3, son of Mr Richard Charles (a native of Carnarvon, and better known as the designer of the civic chain and badges of his native town) has been awarded a silver medal for an oil painting picture exhibited at the Paris Exhibition. Mr Charles has painted various pictures for the Duke of Devonshire. The only pictures by him now exhibited in Wale3 are those of Sir Love Jones Parry, of Madryn, and of his father, both pictures being hung in the Guild Hall, Carnarvon. Bangcrian writes to us I regret that the London and North Western Railway Company have declined to accede to the modest request made of them by the Bangor and .Beaumaris Union for permission to place a box at the Bangor Railway Station for the reception of newspapers for the use of the inmates of the workhouse. The suggestion was brought before the guardians by a very practical member of the board, and it ob- tained the support of the whole board, but after all it is found that th9 railway company deem it below their dignity" to allow it to be carried out. I believe it is a great shame, Mr Editor, that a big concern like the railway company, who are literally swimming in money, should be so un- generous as to refuse to assist in contributing to the comfort of an unfortunate section of the com, munity, while in all their principal stations along the line they allow space for automatic machines of all descriptions. But the secret lies in the fact that these machines pay for the room they occupy. Verily, Mammon works wonders. Referring to the speech of Mr T. Morgan Owen at Cardiff on The Linguistic condition of Wales," Cosmos (of the South Wales Daily News) says -Mr T. Morgan Owen fell into another, and equally grievous error, when he said that the Welsh language was not adapted for the purposes of science and commerce, and that its vocabulary is so limited that it is a matter of difficulty to translate the English into Welsh. He adduced as a proof the fact that English words appear in Welsh print, and are heard in Welsh addresses. The reply to this is simple. It is not the language which is at fault; the fault lies with the writer or the speaker for not having properly studied the language. There is no such inherent defect in Welsh as there is in English. For nearly all scientific terms English scholars are compelled to go to other languages for the material with which to build these terms. In Welsh this difficulty would not apply. It possesses in itself such a wealth of simple roots as would enable a man with any pretence of Welsh scholarship to manufacture a purely Welsh term which would be not only descriptive of the idea intended to be conveyed, but would also be self-explanatory. Take, for instance, the words telescope, telegraph, and tele- phone. These are Dot English words, and their meanings have to be explained to any person who has heard nothing but English. In Welsh we have the necessary roots in pell, far; yr, an instru- ment; gweled {gwel-wel), to see; eb, to say; and sain, a sound. Thus we form:— Pejl wel-yr—an instrument to see afar-telescope. Pell-eb-yr-an instrument to say afar-telegraph. Pell-sein-yr-an instrument to sound afar-tele- phoned The Welsh language may not have been developed in the direction of scientific terms; but this is not the fault of the language, but of its students. One of the most interesting papers read at the Cardiff Church Congress, says the Liverpool Mercury, was that from the pen of the Dean of St. Asaph on the linguistic question in Wales. We learn from it that of the entire population of the Principality, 28 per cent. a few years ago spoke English only, 24 per cent. Welsh only, and 48 per cent. bilingual. There is a steady increase of English, but not necessarily a corresponding decrease of Welsh. It would be correct to say that the proportion of bilinguists is advancing at the expense of the unilingual sections. The Bishop of St. Asaph estimates that there are about 38 per cent. who are content to carry on religious worship in English, leaving 62 per cent. who decidedly prefer Welsh as the medium. Now, these facts show that, however satisfactorily the tongue of the larger nation may progress,that which is native to the soil will for a long time to come hold its own. Fortunately none of our practical reform- ers dream of trying to destroy a heritage round which so many tender associations cluster. The Welsh is a charming language, like all those springing from the Celtic stem. The Dean of St. Asaph perceives in it a beautiful structure, and it ought hardly to be necessary to say in these days that the eloquence and imaginativeness and the tendency to florid diction, characteristic of Celtic peoples, descend to them from the tongue of their ancestors. To the commonplace Philistine the speech which he cannot comprehend is mere gibberish, and there are many of these people in the world; but to the Welshman the speech which began from his cradle is a part of himself, the expression of his thoughts, his loves, his hopes and fears, and of every emotion breaking over the surface of his life. That it will decay as a daily currency is inevitable. This is a misfortune, but it has to be faced. The growth of English is a necessity becoming more widely recognised, and with this growth will arise an indisposition to cultivate two languages side by side. A people who are bilingual have intellectual advantages over those of single speech, but only the few com- paratively care to undergo the labour of attaining the superior equipment. The Dean of St. Asaph points out that the large phonetic resources of Welsh quicken the acquisition of modern languages apart from the English. This is an important consideration, for one must confess that our own tongue does not deserve such a tribute. Hence the Dean trusts that as long as Welsh shall survive it may retain its dignity as a language and never be "degraded and mutilated into a miserable patois." There is no immediate reason to appre- hend decadence, for each of the four university colleges has a Welsh professor. Welsh bas a place in the degree course at Lampeter, it is lecog- nised by London University, and it is included in the intermediate system. Upon the agenda of thA last meeting of the Anglesey County Council Mr Lewis Hughes, I Amlwch, had six notices of motions; Capt E. H. Verney, R N.. two the Rev E. Cyrffig Davies, B.one; Dr Roland Williams, one; and Mr J. Williams, Lla-ifair, one. Mr R. J. Thomas, the county surveyor of Car- narvon, has jast completed the necessary alter- ations at the county magistrates' rorim at Carnar- von for the accommodation of the county Parliament. The room has undergone such a complete transformation that one can scarcely know it. Now, the magistrates and ordinary councillors will be mixed together in that section of the room which was previously sacredly preserved for the former gentlemen. Mr Thomas has not overlooked the convenience of pressmen who will have to attend the council meetings, but the accommodation provided for them is more limited than it would have been if their interests had been more carefully studied. However, the small size of the room may account for this, Mr Francon Davies, M A., the principal soloist at the Betnesda Congregational Eisteddfod last week, is a native of that neighbourhood, and his visit; there naturally evoked more than ordinary interest. Mr Davies was bt ought up as a Congre- gationalist, but he went over to the Established Church, ard was ordained. Some two years ago he held a curacy in the East End of London, and it was then, at the suggestion of an eminent musician, that he decided to divest himself of his surplice and adopt music as a profession. He has since been under the training of the musician re- ferred to, and the progress he has made is remark- able. He possesses a fine and powerful baritone voice, all the songs which he renders being cha- racterised with much finish. His visit to Bethesda, after two years' retirement from the public, came as a surprise to some friends, as, according tJ a correspondent, Mr Davies intended to make his debut at a grand and fashionable concert in the Metropolis. Whether this has come off or not we do not know, and our correspondent is also ignor- ant on the point. The Bishop of Bangor recently addressed a communication to the clergy respecting the arrears of tithes. Amongst the replies he has received a letter from a vicar, which he has forwarded for publication to the papers, giving a shocking description of affairs. From January, 1884, to Anguqt, 1885, a year and a half, he only received 215 16s 9d., although be had to pay his curate's stipend and rates and taxes. He proceeds: —" The ordeal has been terrible. Of my own sufferings I will say nothing, but you, as a married man and a father, can conceive in some degree what it has been to my wife and four little boys to be driven away from home and have their very beds sold. I have made many passionate appeals to my persecutors to have pity upon a mother and her childr3n, but this, instead of soothing and assuaging their relentless spirit, would appear only to whet the more the inexorable savagery." What if his lordship were to supplement the above with a list of the clergy who are in receipt of fabulous incomes, with himself at the head with S4200 a year ? It does not speak much of the Christian charity of the Welsh clergy, the great majority of whom abound in luxury, to report that they allow a brother clergyman to starve at their very door. However, the story needs confirmation to begin with. The 'name ought to be forthcoming.