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THKSE HOBHES NEaiD GROOMSSG. .
'Someone . has sosgested thet die Girl
Guides and Boy Semite of Berkshire ehall
take upon theinsdves the task 'of scouring
the famous White Horse on th ? Jhtmiu
near CfSnpton, trhich,-. for want of »u.-h
a Heaositig, ie nosr almost invJKible. :
?Jar K-axon toretatners titled to comme
morate any great victory «ver tlieir ciie
mies by cutting these figures of horses on
fiome prominent hilUiJe bo that the
underlying -.vbiu? chalk allowed up against
the ejmounding jrreeii turf, forming c
landmark visible for many mHes. Tliere
are score? of those curious moai.-r iV in
various, parts of the country— Wiltshire
alone posseaBee seven — and many of them
are scheduled by Act of Parliament as
ancient. monuments. Mostly they arc of
gigantic dimensions, and the original cut
ting of them niudi have entailed enormous
la!w-r.
The Uffington noise, for instance, mea
sures nearly four hundred feet from tail
to nose, and occupies a space of abont
two acres. It ie generally -accepted as a
memorial Of the great battle of '.Escen-
dune, or Aahdown, vrhen King Alfred to-!
tally' defeated the Danish invader*;, ^ud
«leB- their king. The v-jsts-ia of scouring
or cleaning o-Jt the chalky 'igure of the
faonse was a famous local festival in daya
gone by, as witness these two1 verses from
an oU Bcrkhire bailad:— ? ,
i 'The Owld VMiite Sorse wants zetten to
: rigbtB,' ' . -.
And the squire her promised good cheer.
Zo we'll gie lib a ecrapc to kip un 31
zliane, ? . |
And a'll last for many a yea.-..
'There'll be backsword piaj-, and climmin
tbo Iiotrl.
AnJ a rai-e for a pie and a cheese;
And ua thinks as hien'e a dummel! zowl,
Ak dovvn-'t care for zich spffoo'rts aa
tlieee:'
Sonieriniiw, instead of horses, the Saxons
cut immense crosses, or srigantic human
ligures as victory memorials. The two
most famous uf these latter are the
'?Cerne Abbas Giant,' iu Dorset, and t!ie
'Loug iLic of Wilmington,'' iu S-J3=ei. .
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