There was no particularly
noticeable traffic in leek, though I suppose that as I did not
see the national emblem in any Welshman's hat--to be sure, it was
not St. David's Day--it must have been boiling in every
Welshman's pot. I am rather ashamed to be joining, even at this
remove, in the poor English joking which goes on about the Welsh,
quite as much as about the Scotch, the Irish having become too
grave a matter for joking. There are little burlesque manuals
making merry with the language and its agglutinative prolixity,
which I shall certainly not quote; and there are postal-cards
representing Welsh dames drinking tea in tall witch-hats, with
one of them saying: "I wass enjoying myself shocking, look you."
There was, of course, nothing serious in this joking; the Welsh,
who have all the small commerce in their hands, gladly sold the
manuals and postals, and I did not see one Englishman laughing
over them.
The Saeseneg visitors rather amused themselves with the sea and
the resources of the beach and the bathing.
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