Show CROCKING STONES Tho buos of england and ireland supposed the good people of buckstone Monmouth shire england are mourning the loss of their rocking stone which has for centuries been ithe chief attraction of the village indeed the town is supposed to have derived its name from the stone in the old vernacular of the country rocking and bucking were synonymous this rocking sto a natural block of rock so formed and so poised on a pivot as to oscillate forward and backward without losing ita equilibrium ever since the town was settled this stone has been the delight of the villagers As thousands of strangers have visited the place every year on purpose jo see this famous stone and to move it on it pivot it brought no small gains to the stage drivers and the owners of inns and ale housea the stone stood on the summit of a hill and was like mahy similar natural curiosities the property of the crown it was overturned and rolled into the wooded valley below by the members of a variety corn pany who had been performing in the town As the stone weighs several tons and is in an ble position it will probably never be restored to its original position the famous rocking stone of the Monmouth shire village was not the only one of the kind to be found in the british islands though it was the one most widely known similar stanca exist in yorkshire derbyshire by shire lancashire wales and cornwall they are quite numer ous in scotland not far from lands end is a famous rocking stone known as the loggan some sixty years ago a certain lieutenant goldsmith of the royal navy overturned the stone with a view he said to a scientific investigation As the admiralty caused him to restore it to its former posit at his own expense and as the stone was found to weigh ninety tons he repented at leisure and a great expense for his folly and zeal in make ing scientific investigations ireland has several rocking stones which have been carefully guarded by the inhabitants the one at Island magee near browns bay i the most famous it not only rocks when the hand is presided on it but it trembles and neds or local traditions are not to bo trusted whenever an unjust landlord an informer a process server or a malefactor approaches near it it is almost needless to state that it is held in high estimation by the peo alc plc rocking stones are quite common in greece and until recently it was supposed they I 1 were shaped and poised by ancient artisans for bome unknown purpose some of them contain inscriptions which serve to strengthen the impression that the stones themselves were fashioned by artificial means the belief was general in great britain till geologists apparently disproved the theory that these rocking stones were fashioned by the druies druids and that they made use of them in practicing practising their davs age rites they performed in the name of religion that they used them in their devotional exercises and that they employed them to terrify the people seemed likely but there is no good reason for believing that they shaped and poised them in the places where they ahei found that they might have been used by the people who preceded the belts celts for purposes of divination is probable in one of the poems of ossian men are represented as marching round one of these stones singing hymns to the gods and counting the number of vibrations as an augury of the issue of an approaching pro aching battle these atones were held in superstitious veneration long after the introduction of christianity ti and it was found necessary nece to threaten excommunication against persona who persisted in paying homage to rocking stones geologists have a theory of their own about the origin of rocking stones they state that th ey are masses of rock which owe thir becu liar shape to the slow decay of the softer r portions of themi 1 tt the decayed portions have washed away leaving not likely to become action of the at mo sphere the point that becomes a i votis generally composed 0 very hard material and being protected that project over it cetares f our indians Badr poking atones which th ey regarded with reverence and consulted as ora clesi anbo nhem is at devils lake and of th c cleef attractions of the place hjad not destroyed jd a ift j rocking would be regarded with th anthey are at pres |