38 THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. 
of the Cornwall coast, according to Mr. Couch, are remark- 
ably shrewd and sagacious in all matters pertaining to their 
daily industry, but, like others of their class, they are imbued 
with a strong vein of superstition, and are wedded to old 
customs. No one can doubt the courage of the Cornish 
fishermen on occasions of shipwreck, or of other disasters. 
They have braved the dangers of the deep without the 
slightest prospect of being rewarded for their often suc- 
cessful daring, and their hospitality to those who have been 
shipwrecked on their iron-bound coasts is proverbial. 
As regards domestic usages the fisher-folk of Cornwall lead 
a rather simple life, never interrupted by the celebration of 
the many fétes one finds occasionally brightening the life of 
the same class of people in foreigncountries. In his history of 
Polperro, the quaint and picturesque “little fischar toune with 
a peere,” Mr. Couch tells us that “it was once the custom for 
women to take the corn to mill, see it ground, and bring home 
their grist, for, rightly or wrongly, millers have ever been a 
suspected race. Honest ones’ are popularly known, being 
distinguished by some mark or tuft of hair in the palm of 
the hand. Accordingly the Polperro housewives, like the 
two clerks of Canterbury, were accustomed for a little 
while— 
‘To go to mill and see their corn ground,’ 
and, as the quantity was small, to carry it home. Hence 
several women would be waiting for their turn at the mill, 
which, like the bakehouse, became a noted centre of scandal. 
A bit of doubtful gossip was proverbially termed ‘a mill- 
house story.’ The sale of bread, except as penny loaves, 
Easter and hot-cross buns, was unknown in these times.” 
