When I was at Whittlesey (Cambridgeshire) yesterday, (Jan. 12th, 1909), I had the pleasure of meeting a "straw-bear," if not two, in the street. I had not been at Whittlesey on the day for nearly forty years, and feared the custom had died out.
In my boyhood the "straw-bear" was a man completely swathed in straw, led by a string by another, and made to dance in front of people's houses, in return for which money was expected. This always took place on the Tuesday following Plough-Monday. Yesterday the "straw-bear" was a boy, and I saw no dancing; otherwise there was no change.
I was told that two years ago a zealous inspector of police had forbidden "straw-bears," as a form of cadging, and my informant said that he thought that in many places they had been stopped by the police. He also said that at Whittlesey the police had prevented the people on Plough-Monday from taking round the plough, as they always did when I was a boy. It seems a great pity that primitive customs should be suppressed by Bumbledom, and the thought occurred to me that a representation by lovers of folklore, addressed to County Councils, would be a means of preventing such action in future.
Sheffield.
