324 DECEMBER. 



name of ivinter-monath, to wit, winter-month ; 

 but after the Saxons received Christianity, they 

 then, out of devotion to the birth-time of Christ, 

 termed it heligh-monath, that is to say, holy- 

 month. Sayers adds, they also called it mid- 

 winter-monath, guil-erra, which means the for- 

 mer, or first gnil. Gail, now corrupted, yule, 

 was the feast of Thor, celebrated at the winter 

 solstice, and so called from iol or ol, which sig- 

 nified all. 



RURAL OCCUPATION'S. 



Except in clear, frosty weather, when manure 

 can be carted out, all operations have concen- 

 trated themselves round home : tending and 

 feeding sheep in their sheltered pastures, young 

 cattle and colts in their sheds, and all the col- 

 lected family of the farm-yard, horses, cows, 

 pigs, poultry ; cutting hay, chopping straw ; 

 pulling, bringing home, and slicing turnips for 

 them, and seeing that they are well cleaned and 

 bedded ; fattening for market, and killing for 

 store, find abundant employment. And to all 

 these are to be added the many operations of 

 getting in stacks, thrashing, winnowing, sack- 

 ing, and carrying the corn to market. 



The business of the garden this month con- 

 sists, principally, in matting and defending trees 

 and plants against the cold, and preparing the 

 earth for spring. 



