Downstairs aback out chest,
There he broyed her without rest.
If ever he does the like again, as I suppose he will,
We'll tie him on a donkey's back and tak him to the mill.
Hip, hip, hooray!!!"
The following passage is taken from Rambles in Upper Wharfedale, by B. J. Harker, 1869, p. 22. I can vouch for the general accuracy of the doggerel, as I have heard it frequently in the North Riding: "But in the place of a stang they had at Grassington a cart, in which the spokesman with several others were drawn through the different parts of the town, till they had been all over it, and then they were taken to Linton church, round which they went three times in order to escape local law. The following is a copy of what was said on these occasions:
"Heigh dilly, how dilly, heigh dilly, dang,
It's naether for thy part nor my part
That I ride the stang.
But it is for Jack Solomon,
His wife he does bang.
He bang'd her, he bang'd her,
He bang'd her indeed;
He bang'd t' poor woman,
Though shoo stood him na need;
He naether tuke stick, staen, wire, nor stover.
But he up wi' a besom and knock'd her ower.
So all ye good nabors who live in this row,
I pray ye take warning for this is our law;
And all ye cross husbands who do yer wives bang,
We'll blow for ye t' horn, and ride for ye t' stang.
Hip, hip, hip hurrah."
The Death Light.—"Whenever somebody has died within our mountains, people still observe the custom to light a big fire, called the 'death light,' on the top of the Alps,"—thus Rosegger in his first novel, wherein he describes the life and manners of the people of Styria, refers to one of their time-honoured customs. May we not trace in this usage a symbolic sense and a relic of pagan belief concerning the human soul and its destiny after being separated from the body? H. Krebs.
