School Customs
In South Wales, especially Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, about seventy or eighty years ago, most curious customs were in vogue, which were intended to assist the Welsh children to learn English.
In many Schools in those days, English was taught in rhymes, such as follows:—
“Hearth is aelwyd, fire is tân,
Cloth is brethyn, wool is gwlan,
Ash is onen, oak is derwen,
Holly tree is pren cerdynen,
House is ty, and mill is melin,
Fiddle is crwyth, and harp is telyn,
River is afon, brook is nant,
Twenty is ugnin, hundred is cant.”