is b

ith ha

th plum

rt fol

ore Robi

n the hearth flickers on the figures it almost seems as if the gayly decorated horses are drawing on the cart laden with sheaves, as if the girl enthroned on the top of the corn is waving the small sheaf she holds overhead, and as if the harvesters are really dancing around; that in another moment the lad riding the l

ions those connected with the harvest are probably some of the most ancient; handed down from generation to generation from the days when the Roman

e two figures made of straw were formerly carried in the harvest procession, which the laborers called Jack and Jill, but which wer

n. As all were ambitious of this honor, the women used to hide away an unreaped lock under a sheaf, and when all the field seemed cut they would run off to their hidden treasures, in hopes of being the lucky last. When a girl

d over his head, crying in a stentorian voice, "I have it, I have it, I have it!" And the next man answered, "What hav-ee, what hav-ee, what hav-ee?" Then the first man sh

of reapers and binders. Then he stooped and held it near the ground, while all the men took off their hats and held them also near the ground, and as they rose slowly they sung in a prolonged harmonious tone, "A neck, a neck, a neck!" until their hats were high over their heads. This was repea

" One of the men was chosen lord of the evening and appointed to approach any lookers-on with respect, and ask a largess, or

can play this music (mp

! Lar

der of the Hoaky Cart, dressed in whit

-gathering

nd they cli

za with all

mounts the f

he rustic g

ore long and

cart, with

ess on, and

1661, goes on to describe the arriva

the field is now stoutly fought. The pipe and tabor are now briskly set to work, and the lad and lass will have no lead on th

e knot won a prize and was made Harvest King for that year. In the same county there was a rough custom of the last load being driven home by the farmer himself at a furious rate, while the laborers chased the wagon with bo

of summer,

lords of wi

gh labours a

rst, then re

the ears of

pipe ring H

my lord, and

ith all the

maukin, t

s pure as

ares, and fri

linen, whit

swains and w

ee the hock-

cart hear

nglings rais

fore, some

hout, and thes

e boys, to you

h fire, where

, first, the

of your fea

stories, mu

hich makes f

al dishes

custard,

ll temptin

carried by the harvesters on a high pole with singing and shouting, was placed in the centre of the supper table, like the Devonshire and Cornish Neck. Rich cream was served on bread at the K

rmed in the shape of a house with a sloping roof, and as the man placed the last sheaf in the point of the gable he shouted, "He's in, he's in, he's in!" The l

d, but the words and music are not preserved as such. Some curious songs are performed by t

Kings, Lor

hout the h

the ale and cider that flowed at harvest-time, conduced in no sm

pirits may have been but the natural expression of life in a perfectly unartificial state. They were men and women who could live for the hour while the sun shone, who could

ted loudly when their sickles were taken away, and the cor

in the Bible," they said;

the steam reaper. And it often happens that the steam engines do not leave the field

the crowns of flowers, the K

the ancient ceremonies. If the corn is threshed in the field and carried away

illing they will earn for overhour work, and in some counties prefer it to the gathering of

clear the fields and there are some

and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her,

ht o'clock, after which the children troop off with their mothers to the wide fields. The sun may shine with fierce August fervor, the children's arms and the mothers' backs be weary to breaking, and the corn gathered be only enough for two half-p

able law of change; for out of the relics of the worship of Ceres, out of the ashes of the ancient customs of revelry, a ph?nix has arisen, grand and hope-inspiring, and that carri

. But thankful hearts and good common-sense have worn out the suspicion, and the day comes now in each year, when every Church in England is decked with sheaves of corn, grapes

poor, beloved by God, it is largess for the suffering ones, who watch in pain, it is largess

Nave of one of these magnificent old buildings, on a market day, so full of men and women of every position in life, that they are sitting on

hankful pe

song of Ha