OLD COUNTRY FOLK 243 



customary to pay a shilling down. It is known as ' laying 

 a shilling on the bargain.' The payment of this deposit 

 makes the agreement binding, even if some one ' came along ' 

 afterwards and offered a higher price. 



Godalming fair day (February 13) is credited with a 

 mysterious influence on the weather during the next few 

 weeks. The local saying has it that ' If the sun shines 

 before noon on Godalming fair-day, the winter isn't half 

 over.' 



A very old saying, whose form of plurals takes one back 

 to the days of Chaucer, goes — 



'So many mistes in March 

 So many frostes in May.' 



' Mistes ' and ' frostes ' must be read as two distinct 

 syllables. Some of the old people still say : postes ' and 

 ' waspes ' ; also in two syllables. 



There is an old belief that pigs can see the wind. It is 

 how the old folks try to account for the restless way they 

 go squeaking and fidgetting about, when they are running 

 loose in the open in windy weather. 



A great charm among our older people was their 

 pleasant, cheerful manner. Here and there, of course, there 

 was some one of a dull or surly nature, but such a thing 

 was quite exceptional. Sometimes this love of cheerfulness 

 extended even beyond the grave, as in the case of an old 

 bell-ringer, who left five pounds to be spent among his 

 fellow-ringers when he died. They were to ring a merry 

 peal at his funeral and have a grand supper. ' No muffled 

 bells for me,' he said. 



Perhaps there is nothing that diffuses more happiness 



