106 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



of his old age he is not without his use at the very 

 last, and his word settles the matter. 



In the winter twilight, after a fall of snow, it is 

 difficult to find one's way across the ploughed fields 

 of the open plain ; for it melts on the south of every 

 furrow, leaving a white line where it has lodged on 

 the northern side, till the furrows resemble an endless 

 succession of waves of earth tipped with foam-flecks 

 of snow. These are dazzling to the eyes, and there 

 are few hedges or trees visible for guidance. Snow 

 lingers sometimes for weeks on the northern slopes 

 of the downs, where shallow dry dikes, used as land 

 marks, are filled with it : the dark mass of the hill 

 is streaked like the black hull of a ship with its line 

 of white paint. Field work during what the men call 

 " the dark days afore Christmas " is necessarily much 

 restricted, and they are driven to find some amuse- 

 ment for the long evenings such as blowing out 

 candles at the alehouse with muzzle-loader guns for 

 wagers of liquor, the wind of the cap alone being 

 sufficient for the purpose at a short distance. 



The children never forget St. Thomas's Day, which 

 ancient custom has consecrated to alms ; and they 

 wend their way from farmhouse to farmhouse through- 

 out the parish : it is usual to keep to the parish, for 

 some of the old local feeling still remains even in these 

 cosmopolitan times. At Christmas sometimes the chil- 

 dren sing carols, not with much success so far as melody 

 goes, but otherwise successfully enough ; for recollec- 

 tions of the past soften the hearts of the crustiest. 



