54 



consult an architect, but consulted his neighbours, who were ever 

 ready to render assistance ; got his clay mixed, and timber ready ; 

 then, on some appointed day, his friends and neighbours gathered 

 together and put a roof above his head before nightfall. 



It is my opinion that more real pleasure was derived from social 

 intercourse by our ancestors than now. In the old days the Church, 

 no doubt, exercised a great influence over the people. Our fathers 

 observed with great care the festivals and rites of the Church. 

 A Christening used to be a much more important affair than what 

 it is to-day, preparations going on for days and even weeks before 

 the ceremony. They provided the best of eating and drinking, 

 but this was never touched until the young hopeful returned from 

 church. The good parish priest often returned with the party, 

 and there were doings which would alarm many people in these 

 degenerate days. 



The same remarks apply to Marriages, which in old times were 

 never concluded with residents over the Border. This custom of 

 never intermarrying with the Scots was in vogue so late as the 

 reign of Elizabeth. An old writer says, " No one should marry a 

 Scotch woman, were she ever so honest." In fact, our forefathers 

 were very jealous of foreigners of any description, and thus a clear 

 distinction was kept between the English and Scotch races. The 

 old freemen of Carlisle had some very severe regulations in that 

 respect, and in those regulations they called everyone Scotchmen 

 or foreigners who lived north of Blackford. All the weddings, 

 even in the houses of the poorest, were occasions of great rejoicing 

 and merry-making ; and it was nothing unusual for the wedding 

 party to be tied into the church, the door being kept secure until 

 such a sum was paid as kept every dry throat in the village moistened 

 at the village ale-house for the remainder of the day. This practice 

 still lingers in some remote dales, but elsewhere anyone pursuing it 

 would soon be handed over to the police — wliich official, however, 

 had no existence in the old times of which I speak. 



In the old Funeral customs there are also traces of darker and 

 more barbarous times. The hospitality of our ancestors often 

 overcame their judgment, and funerals became scenes of feasting 



