FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
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PROCEEDINGS AT EVENING MEETINGS.
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An Evening Meeting was held at 22, Albemarle Street, W., on Wednesday, March 15th, 1893; the President (Mr. G. L. Gomme) in the chair.
The following new members were elected, viz. : Mr. Goddard, Mr. H. Orpen, Dr. J. Todhunter, and Mr. D. Fitzgerald.
Mrs. Gomme exhibited the following objects : — (1) A carnival-mask from Verona ; (2) A trumpet from Rome ; and (3) A cake bought from a stall of similar cakes at Frascati on the Eve of the Epiphany.
Mr. W. H. D. Rouse, who kindly presents the two former objects to the Society's proposed Museum, writes as to the trumpet : — " On the evening of the Eve of the Epiphany a fair is held at Rome in the Piazza Navona. The proper thing for everybody to do is to buy one of these horns or trumpets, and blow it with all his might. They parade the streets to the sound of it, often carrying grotesque lay figures, which they move by means of strings." As to the cake, which was also sent by Mr. Rouse, he says "he believes the shape to be traditional, although animals and the same cakes were for sale elsewhere, because, at one shop in Geuzdas near by, a stall of these cakes was presided over by a life-size figure of a woman with curious open bosom to the dress like the cake."
Mr. Clodd read a short paper by Mr. Nutt, entitled "Cinderella in Britain", and in the discussion which followed Dr. Furnivall, Dr. Gaster, Messrs. Jacobs, Higgens, and Clodd, and the President took part.
Mr. Leland L. Duncan read a paper on " The Folk-lore of Co. Leitrim", and exhibited a map of the county and some photographs of the natives, and of the country around Kiltubrid and Fenagh. At the conclusion of his paper there was a short discussion, in which Messrs. Jacobs, Clodd, and Naaké, and Dr. Gaster took part, and a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Duncan.
Mr. M. J. Walhouse then read a paper on "Some Indian Obeahs", and exhibited some photos of Kurumbars, and a piece of the bone of an elk and an iron cock's spur, with which a man had been murdered, both of which had been regarded as Obeahs. Mr. Emslie also exhibited his drawing of the Obeah from Jamaica, exhibited by Mr. Robertson at a former meeting, and, after a few observations by Mr. Clodd, the thanks of the meeting were duly accorded to Mr. Walhouse for his paper.
A paper by the Rev. W. Gregor on "The Folk-lore of Domesticated Birds", and some notes on "The Folk-lore of Co. Antrim", by the Rev. S. A. Brenan, were also read.
An Evening Meeting was held at 22, Albemarle Street, on Wednesday, April 19th, 1893; the President (Mr. G. L. Gomme) in the chair.
The election of the following new members was announced, viz. : Prof. B. A. C. Windle, Mr. L. L. Duncan, Mr. H. Wissendorf, and Miss E. Sawyer.
Mr. Jacobs read a short paper, entitled "The Folk", which was followed by a discussion, in which Dr. Gaster, Mr. Nutt, and the President took part.
The President read the fragment of a story by Mrs. Gomme, which she had heard as a child, entitled "The Green Lady".
In the absence of the Rev. W. S. Lach-Syzrma, the Secretary read his paper on " Cornish Folk-lore", and a discussion followed, in which Professors Rhys and Haddon, Dr. Gaster, Messrs. Nutt, Higgens, Baverstock, and Jacobs, and the President took part.
A letter from Miss Lucy Broadwood was read by the President as to a Beltane Custom at Skene in Norway.