County Folk-Lore

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECTION II. TREES AND PLANTS. Tree-worship thought possible.?That some lingering notion of veneration due to trees hung on, and was regarded as savouring of something not orthodox, is perhaps shown by the following incident, which is perfectly true. It was told me by the person concerned. A new parson had...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECTION II. TREES AND PLANTS. Tree-worship thought possible.?That some lingering notion of veneration due to trees hung on, and was regarded as savouring of something not orthodox, is perhaps shown by the following incident, which is perfectly true. It was told me by the person concerned. A new parson had been appointed to a remote parish in one of the north-western dales of Yorkshire, under the Fells. Not being a native of Yorkshire, but a southerner, he was eyed with suspicion, and his movements were watched. Now in the parsonage garden was a large tree, and about the roots was a bed of violets. The suspicious villagers observed the pastor as he walked round the tree, and every now and then bowed, to pick a violet. The proceeding took place daily. Why he bowed they could not understand, unless it were in homage to the tree, and they actually drew up a memorial to the Archbishop of York complaining of their parson as guilty of idolatrous tree-worship.?BARING-GOULD (3), p. 231. See also under NATURAL OBJECTS: Wells, Walton, p. 32. MAYPOLES. Aysgarth. In it is an old may-pole about 90 feet in height. Whellan, vol. ii., p. 389. Carlton. The only village in Cleveland where we have noticed the Maypole.?ORD, p. 442. The ancient custom of merrymaking and dancing round it is still kept up.?Whellan, vol. ii., p. 739. Palsgrave. There was . . a May-pole at the east end of the village, but this has . . been diverted from its original purpose.?Baker, p. 26. Huby. Huby is one of the solitary instances in Yorkshire which still retains its tall aspiring May-pole, though now, alas, bare and ungarlanded.?GILL, p. 412. This relic of' Merry England' is 22 yards high, and was erected about 20 years ago, in lieu of an older pole. Whellan, vol. ii., p. 642. The ...