1 4 Transactions. 



barley and the wheat harvest were ended. Then after the grain 

 had been carried in and winnowed on the threshing floor we are 

 told that Boaz " ate, drank, and was merry." It would not, 

 however, be doing full justice to the Greeks were I to omit 

 mention of the beautiful description given by Homer of the 

 wheat and vine harrests, as these two scenes were engraven upon 

 the shield of Achilles, two scenes which rival Hebrew usages. 

 I here give Cowper's translation of the wlieat harvest scene : — 



There, too, he formed the likeness of a field 

 Crowded with corn, in which the reapers toiled, 

 Each with a sharp-toothed sickle in his hand ; 

 Along the furrow here the harvest fell. 

 In frequent handfuls there they bind the sheaves. 

 Three binders of the sheaves their sultry task 

 All plied industrious, and behind them boy.s 

 Attended, filling with the corn their arms. 

 And oflf ring still their bundles to be bound. 

 Amid them, staff in hand, the master stood. 

 Enjoying mute the order of the field ; 

 While shaded by an oak apart his train 

 Prepared the banquet — a well-thriven ox 

 New slain, and the attendant maidens mixed 

 Large supper for the hinds of whitest flour. 



There is here no mention of that charitable Hebrew custom of 

 gleaning which was enjoined by the Mosaic law, and has been 

 observed since then to the present as an equitable claim by the 

 poor. In mediieval times the religious element of offering the 

 first fruits of harvest to God lost its original simplicity, and 

 became so laden with superstitious ceremonies that it resembled 

 a pagan rather than a Christian festival. Hence tiie religious 

 element fell into disuse at the Reformation ; and it is only within 

 the last few years, especially in Scotland, that religious services 

 have been held as an accessory to harvest festivities. The 

 " kirn " in Scotland corresponds to the harvest home in England. 

 It is the Scotch way of pronouncing the word churn, just as church 

 is pronounced kirk ; much, meikle ; such like, sic-lyke or sicken. 

 In the north of England it is called the mell-supper, which some 

 English antiquaries suppose to be a corruption for meal, and that 

 the Scotch is a corruption of the word corn. I have never heard 

 the word corn pronounced kirn ; and in regard to the word mell, 

 the explanation given by Brand and adopted by Strutt in his 



