"CUTTING NECK”

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 47, 19 November 1926, Page 6

"CUTTING NECK”

QUAINT CORNISH CUSTOM. In Cornwall the farmers follow a quaint old custom called “cutting neck," that it, cutting tile last sueai ot corn that ,s maiming. During tuose weeks 01 harvesting it may nave ueen a race witu tue weatuer. liven on tbe very day wnen tue tarmer expects to see the eul miuatiou of uis Hopes ram may come, but W the tarmer wuo. m a good season and witu sumcieut Help, buds himself, neruans even in tno dusK ol that fateful d;iv ready to cut neck," it is a grauu occasion (writes “A.K..” in’ the num uurgu "Weekly Scotsman ). The custom is ceieurated right royally. The reamne machine Has completed its last swatne aud tbe tired horses come to a standstill. The hands gather around the farmer as he advances, scythe in hand, and with deft swezp lays the last lock beside the others. As it reaches the grouuo his foreman shoutsv> nai 'ave 'ee? What avo 'ee? What 'ave ee? “A neck—a neckl" his master replies. Then a shout arises from tbe workers, a heart.v “Hoorah!” which is given thrice. If the evening is still the sound is beard a mile away. Other workers on adjoining farms take up the cry. which, as it travels from farm to farm, informs less fortunate farmers that someone has al readv “cut neck.” The scene is impressive when experienced for the first lime and the “hoorah!" sounding from different directions enhances the effect It has a iubilant, triumphant quality, but to the principal person concerned, the farmer, it sounds a thanksgiving His wife and her assistants have meanwhile been busy preparing ihe 'neck supper " no light task for a dozen hungry men Much a jolly affair that supper party is. They have trooped in. tired but ' happy. an d the farmer's wife, who shares her handmaidens' work of waiting on the guests smiles as she sees the viands disappearing in eoodly quantities and in record time. Perhaps indigos tion is unknown to those sturdy agriculturists but on that occasion they work for it For solids there are tciied ham and dumplings, followed hy puddings and n le tarts. If the farmer is a teetotallei then is a.n abundance of cocon and coffee to wash it all down The serious business of gating concluded pipes are drawn cut and lighted and there is a perfect babel of talk Jokes are bandied and there is much 'Slighter over stories whirl, everyone has he.ard be f ore Above all there is <-nnd fellowshin and an owdem sincerity about this rustic assembly. Each one s llinnkfnl for ( hia successful term'natl mof a long period of anxiety and weeks of toil. As the crowning mercy "neck has been cut.