[HPFGU-OTChatter] English Traditional Begging

[Neil Ward]

>From California, Catlady gave various examples of British (well, English)
begging traditions, most of which seem to have died out.  This was one of
them: -

<<St James Day. July 25. Has a description of children in London making
piles of seashells (scavenged from the trash of eateries) topped with a
candle and sitting beside it 'whining' "Mind the Grotto!" which is a request
for cash.>>

Well, I did ask!

I have never heard of this one and I can't begin to guess the origins.  The
only seashell connection I can recall is the tongue-twister "She sells
seashells on the sea shore," which suggests that people used to buy shells
from poor traders.  I assume the phrase above means "look at the grotto" and
not "don't knock the grotto over"!

<<<etc etc etc. I feel like a big fool telling an English person about
archaic English customs whose descriptions I have to look up in a book.>>>

That's okay, I'm not archaic enough to recall these things, and I don't have
those books.  When you said "old traditions" I thought you meant current
traditions that were longstanding, such as Bonfire Night.  Now I see what
you were getting at.  It seems that begging in olden times was more like a
form of recognised enterprise for the poor and involved lots of ribbons.
These days, it's assumed that nearly everyone should have a job, so begging
is cast in quite a different light.

Neil