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Volume 4 44 |
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A–Z |  |
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THE CHARM OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS |
IN THE FANTASTIC DRESS OF THE NOTORIOUS STRAW BOYS |
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| Tradition is bound up in the lives of the older inhabitants, and this venerable Guernseyman could relate stirring tales of witches, devil-worshippers, and sorcerers — nebulous shapes of bygone days that still linger in the dim recesses of his memory | During the early years of the nineteenth century sections of Ireland were overrun by one of the many terrorist gangs that have from time to time existed there, known, from their peculiar but effective grass masks, as the Straw Boys. Through these masks they could see without being recognized, and their habit of dressing as women added to their grotesque appearance |