246 OLD HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS. 



soil, the olive, the grape-vine, and corn; the olive- 

 tree was to be beaten but once ; the scattered grape in 

 the vintage was not to be gathered ; and in the field 

 where the corn grew, " clean riddance " was not to be 

 made, the corners were to be left unreaped, and even 

 the forgotten sheaf was not to be fetched away by the 

 owner, but to be left for the "poor and the stranger 

 the fatherless and the widow." This was not simply de 

 clared once, as an act of mercy, but enjoined and con- 

 firmed by ordinances thrice repeated, and impressed 

 with particular solemnity ; " I am the Lord thy God," 

 I have given thee all, and I command unreserved obe- 

 dience to this my appointment. 



Revolving in our minds, as we old-mannered people 

 often do, the forms, rites, and usages of e'arlier days, 

 we occasionally regret that fashions by gradual neglect 

 have passed away, and can never be revived, to give 

 that feeling of pleasure which a natural growth seemed 

 to have inspired. Some, though probably of pagan 

 origin, were innocent and harmless practices ; the may- 

 pole, with all its flowery wreaths, so often surrounded 

 by the dance and the song, is now but seldom seen, 

 where we have known it, especially in the lace-making 

 counties, the evening and almost sole recreation, after 

 long hours of unhealthy occupation, for happy groups of 



"Those pale maids who weave their threads with bone ;" 



and it gave these poor villagers a transient glow of 

 health, seen then alone ; but "it is gone with the rest, 

 and we grieve to think how little remains that poverty 

 and innocence can partake of. Others were of monkish 

 introduction, yet seemed to keep in remembrance the 

 revolutions of seasons and events, which, though re- 

 corded elsewhere, had become the types of written 

 things. Yet one of them in the irration of the moment 

 I have at times wished, selfishly enough perhaps, con- 

 signed to oblivion with monks and monkish deeds. 

 " Christmassing," as we call it,"the decorating our 

 churches, houses, and market meats with evergreens, 

 is yet retained among us; and we growers of such 

 things annually contribute more than we wish for the 



