Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/373

 Collectanea. 337

hands of the executioner, I did not fail as soon as I entered the town to make the most anxious enquiry into the meaning of what I had seen. You may guess my surprise when told, that on the preceding day had been the Carter's Race, and that what had created so much uneasiness in my mind was nothing but a part of the apparatus necessary for carrying on the amusements of the day, of a part of which I had the following description : From that beam, from which I was afraid some unfortunate criminal was about to be suspended between heaven and earth, as unworthy of either, a living goose was hung up by the feet, and all who could procure horses had an opportunity, as they trotted through between the upright posts, of showing their dexterity, by catching hold of the goose's head, and giving it a pull. This diversion was continued to the no small gratification of the company, till one, more fortunate than his neighbours, had the happiness of pulling the head from the body, and of being hailed for this heroic action with reiterated applauses by the surrounding multitude. The goose being now no longer able to afford any more sport, was taken down, and a cat, inclosed in a barrel, hung up in its room. Every horseman being provided with a mall, struck the end of the barrel as he rode through below it ; by the frequent repetition of this, the head of the barrel was at length stove in, when the cat, mad with the cruel usage, darted out, all covered over with soot, to the great amuse- ment of the crowd ; and from a principle of self-preservation was dispatched as quickly as possible, by the happy swains who had collected to witness the diversions of the day. . ..

A Friend to Youth." " North Banks of the Tyne, 1 6th June, 1814."

(Sweden.) The following note is by a young lady from Malmo, Sweden : — " In Sweden on Lent Monday they put a cat in a barrel and hang it up horizontally with a rope, and tie a sheet of paper over the open end. (It must not be a wine-cask, but a barrel of rough staves, such as is used for cement, etc.)