THE USE OF A PILLION. 75 



to have his attention called to the blotvtJi of an apple tree in a 

 neighboring orchard. The thrill caused by this word was 

 equalled only by the pleasure of a disciple of Izaak Walton 

 when he feels the bite of a trout jumping at his fly. The 

 word " blowth " is now no longer heard, but three centuries 

 ago it was not uncommon in literature. Lowell himself in 

 his Introduction to "The Biglow Papers," second series (p. 

 xxviii), gives this word with many other similar ones that have 

 lost either their original meaning or their pronunciation. 



THE USE OF A PILLION. 



Few persons of the present day in this neighborhood have 

 ever seen a pillion, and fewer still have ever seen one in 

 actual use. It was a leather pad or cushion, put on behind 

 and attached to a man's saddle by straps, on which a woman 

 might ride. In early times pillions were common throughout 

 the country towns of New England, and particularly the hill 

 towns, but they have long since disappeared. Every farmer 

 that owned a saddle also possessed a pillion; and, in going 

 on horseback for any considerable distance to the store or 

 meeting-house, he often took his wife to ride along with him, 

 she holding on by clasping his waist. In the same way the 

 young men, following the example thus set them, frequently 

 took their sisters or somebody else's sisters to the singing- 

 school or other gathering ; and the tradition has come down 

 that the girls liked this kind of travelling quite as much as 

 their brothers or somebody else's brothers. 



During the last ten years I have asked many aged persons 

 in different parts of Middlesex County, if they had ever wit- 

 nessed this style of riding; and, almost invariably, they have 

 replied, never more than once or twice, and then only when 

 they were children. From these facts, I draw the conclusion 

 that the custom of riding double disappeared in this part of 

 Massachusetts more than a century ago, though in some 

 other places it may have lingered till a later period. 



