no WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



threaten, indeed, to supplant the feast altogether 

 the friendly society having been taken under the 

 patronage of the higher ranks of residents. Here and 

 there the feast-day, however (the day on which the 

 church was dedicated), is still remembered, as in this 

 village, where the elder farmers invite their friends 

 and provide liberally for the occasion. Some of the 

 gipsies still come with their stalls, and a little crowd 

 assembles in the evening ; but the glory of the true 

 feast has departed. 



The elder men, nevertheless, yet reckon by the feast- 

 day ; it is a fixed point in their calendar, which they 

 construct every year, of local events. Such and such 

 a fair is calculated to fall so many days after the first 

 full moon in a particular month ; and another fair 

 falls so long after that. An old man will thus tell 

 you the dates of every fair and feast in all the villages 

 and little towns ten or fifteen miles round about. He 

 quite ignores the modern system of reckoning time, 

 going by the ancient ecclesiastical calendar and the 

 moon. How deeply the ancient method must have 

 impressed itself into the life of these people to still 

 remain a kind of instinct at this late day ! 



The feasts are in some cases identified with certain 

 well-recognized events in the calendar of nature such 

 as the ripening of cherries. It may be noticed that 

 these, chancing thus to correspond pretty accurately 

 on the average with the state of fruit, are kept up 

 more vigorously than those which have no such aid 

 to the memory. The Lady Day fair and Michaelmas 



