English Traditional Begging

[Rita Winston]

I having mentioned what the book said about old-time children 
celebrating St James Day, Neil replied: 

> 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 didn't quote the book's explanation because I thought everyone 
already knew: St James of Campostela, San Diego or Santiago in 
Spanish, St Jacques in French, his symbol is the scallop shell, like 
the one on the Shell Oil sign. His shrine is still a very popular 
pilgrimage site, and in the Middle Ages, pilgrims who visited it 
would ever after wear a pewter or bronze model of a scallop shell on 
their hats. I don't know if the children got any actual scallop 
shells when going through the trash of what were not yet called 
restaurants: the book mentioned oyster shells, oysters having been at 
that time a popular cheap food, and there is the folk song about 
"Cockles and Mussels" ...

The "she" who sells sea shells (the ones that no longer contain sea 
food) was that Mary Ann Something who sold souvenirs at some 
English seaside resort and was 11 years old when her sea shell 
gathering (to stock her shop) turned up some important fossil. She 
contacted a paleontologist about it and thus became a big name 
fossil hunter, except I can't seem to remember any of the important 
details.

In those days, electricity had not yet been domesticated. 
Nowdays, a souvenir stock cannot avoid selling batteries any more 
than it can avoid selling film, inspiring Lee to say of the owner: 
She sells C-cells by the seashore. In case you're into UNIX, 
there's also one about C-shell. 

> 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.

With the possible exception of the children, all those people HAD 
jobs: plowmen, chimney-sweeps, milk maids, etc. And they never CALLED 
it'begging', just as we rarely call trick-or-treating 'begging'. It's 
a closer analogy to the employed people who I am told EXPECT to be 
given Xmas presents, such as letter carrier, doorman, etc. I never 
gave them any presents, never was dunned by them for presents, and 
never spoke with any of them -- I am very antisocial.