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Manners & Customs of all Nations.
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HEAVING.
_(For the Mirror.)_
They have a ludicrous custom in Staffordshire, at Easter, which they call
heaving. The males claim Easter Monday, and the females Tuesday, and on
this day a group of the latter assemble, and every male they meet with
they seize, and one of them salutes him with a kiss, after which they all
lay hold of him and heave him up as high as they can, for this they
require some donation, which, if refused, they will seize his hat,
handkerchief, or any thing they can lay hold of. This lasts till twelve
o'clock. Sometimes old women collect together, and then woe be to the
person who does not present them with a trifle, and thus stop their
proceedings; for if not, their snuffy beaks might come in contact with
their prisoners' lips. They often collect 10 or 12s. and spend it in
carousing at night.
W.H.
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CONVICTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
The regular hours of work are from sun-rise to sun-set; but so few
settlers get up to see that this time is kept, that a much shorter period
is generally employed in labour. The expense of maintaining a convict is
rather a difficult calculation: where there are many men, they are, of
course, supported at much less per man than where there are but few, from
being able to buy slop clothes, tea, and the other necessaries, at
wholesale prices, of the importing merchant.
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