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more, if the current stories are true. It is said that an
old Borrowdale man was once sent a very long way for
something very new, by some innovator who had found his way
into the dale. The man was to go with horse and sacks (for
there were no carts, because there was no road) to bring
some lime from beyond Keswick. On his return, when he was
near Grange, it began to rain; and the man was alarmed at
seeing his sacks begin to smoke. He got a hatful of water
from the river; but the smoke grew worse. Assured at length
that the devil must be in any fire which was aggravated by
water, he tossed the whole load over into the river. That
must have been before the dalesmen built their curious wall;
for they must have had lime for that. Spring being very
charming in Borrowdale, and the sound of the cuckoo
gladsome, the people determined to build a wall to keep in
the cuckoo, and make the spring last for ever. So they built
a wall across the entrance, at Grange. The plan did not
answer; but that was, according to the popular belief from
generation to generation, because the wall was not built one
course higher. It is simply for want of a top course in that
wall that eternal spring does not reign in Borrowdale.
Another anecdote shows, however, that a bright wit did
occasionally show himself among them. A "statesman" - (an
"estatesman," or small proprietor) - went one day to a
distant fair or sale, and brought home what neither he nor
his. neighbours had ever seen before;- a pair of stirrups.
Home he came jogging, with his feet in his stirrups; but, by
the time he reached his own door, he had jammed his feet in
so fast that they would not come
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