During the night the lads brought all three faggots and his stick, and pegged them down at his door. Joe came out in the morning.
"Ah!" said he, "them Pysgies! They'm vriends wi' me again. Now I'm all right. It ud niver do, us on the moor not to be on güde tarms wi' they. I'm right as a trivet now."
The schools have pretty well banished superstition from Dartmoor; none now remains, and I doubt whether the old stories are any longer to be picked up there.
Education, however, is not in an advanced condition. The other day I took down for preservation the following notice I saw affixed to the church gate at Post Bridge. It was written on vermilion-red paper:—
"Mary maze hencot as been and kellad
John Webb Jack daw.
and he got to pay 5s for kellad a Jack daw."
The sense is not clear. As may be noticed, Mary is a he, just as a cow is a he.
Here is a bit of conversation overheard between two Dartmoor boys:—
"I zay, Bill, 'ow many cows hev your vaither?"
"Mine—oh! dree and an oss. How many 'as yourn?"
"Mine! oh! my vaither—e's in heaven."