ENGLISH COUNTRY AMUSEMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 953, 25 April 1889, Page 31

ENGLISH COUNTRY AMUSEMENTS.

In the dales of Yorkshire,, near , the manufacturing centres, I have seen hundreds of young men and women dancing to the music of their village bandi In Manchester and surrounding districts botany is still pursued by a very large number of the artisan classes. There are some 60 or 70 botanical .societies, 1 the members of which meet on Sunday, and the .attendance of the whole reaches about 2000. But these form but a very, small minority of the working classes. The great' mass of the people do not make a profitable use of their leisure hours. Their, amusements are limited partly by their capacities and partly by their means, and the publicrhouse ■is-their only means of relaxation. /Colliers seem the least able to find healthy amusement; The miners of Durham, in particular, have been represented as a demoralised class of people. They have > been charged with indulging in dog-fighting and cock-fighting \ but during an experience of 20 years a magistrate tells us that he has never heard of such things ; the same magistrate had, however, a case before hinvof a more objectionable kind. He described the charge as being not only an act of considerable cruelty, but an act of barbarity such as should only be found among a lot of savages. It was a charge of ill-treating, abusing, and torturing a game cock; and evidence was given by a reporter that' he saw a number of lads with their hands tied behind them running after a fowl. The winner had to catch it with his teebh and throw it over his shoulder.

In Barnsley, as in other mining centres in Yorkshire, the game of puft-and-dart is a favourite source of amusement. It is chiefly confined to public*houses, and the stakes are, for the most part, pints or quarts of beer. The players are provided with a long tube, and a number of darts or arrows, each properly feathered and pointed. One of these is inserted in the tube, and the operator, stationing himself at a given distance from the mark, applies his mouth to the tube and blows vigorously j sending the arrow against the board on which the " bull's eye " is 1 displayed. If he hits the centre, he wins ; if he fails, he forfeits his stake. The game is almost exclusively confined to colliery^workers, and care has to be taken to avoid the law against public-house gambling. Three or four years ago a man met with a shocking death at Barnsley through playing this game. Instead of blowing down the tube he sucked up, and the dart, composed of a large needle with some worsted at one end, passed down his throat. An incision was made in his windpipe and a powerful magnet inserted, but without effect. The dart passed into the bronchial tube of the left lung.

Knurr and spell is a favourite out-door pastime among Yorkshire miners. The implements comprise the following -.—First, a small machine with a spring, in size and appearance not unlike a rat trap ; the spring terminates in a small cup-shaped cavity which throws a catch for keeping the spring down; second, a wooden ball' known as a " knurr"; third, an instrument like a cricket bat. I believe the latter is the "spell." When all is ready for action instrument number one is filed in the ground, and the spring fastened down by the catch. The " knurr," or ball, is deposited in the cup-like cavity at the end of the spring, and the player deals a vigorous blow at the catch. This releases the spring, wbich rises up, sending the ball flying in the air, and the skill of a player is shown by his dexterity in hitting it before it gets beyond his reach. It is a game which requires a good deal of practice and skill, and but for the gambling inseparably associated with it, would not be objectionable.