Rural Holidays. 91 



system — men coming one day and gone the next — 

 leaves no room for the growth of such feelings, and 

 the art and mystery of the craft loses its charm. 

 The harness bells, too, are disappearing ; hardly one 

 team in twenty carries them now. 



Those who labor in the fields seem to have far 

 fewer hohdays than the workers in towns. The lat- 

 ter issue from factory and warehouse at Easter, and 

 rush gladly into the country : at Whitsuntide, too, 

 they enjoy another recess. But the farmer and the 

 laborer work on much the same, the closing of banks 

 and factories in no wa^' interfering with the tilling 

 of the earth or the tending of cattle. In May the 

 ploughboys still remember King Charles, and on what 

 the}' call ' shik-shack day ' search for oak-apples and 

 the young leaves of the oak to place with a spray of 

 ash in their hats or button-holes : the ash spray must 

 have even leaves ; an odd number is not correct. To 

 wear these green emblems was thought imperative 

 even within the last twenty years, and scarcely a 

 laborer could be seen without them. The elder men 

 would tell you — as if it had been a grave calamity — 

 that they could recollect a year when the spring was 

 so backward that not an oak-leaf or oak-apple could 

 be found b}- the most careful search for the purpose. 

 The custom has fallen much into disuse lately : the 

 carters, however, still attach the ash and oak leaves 

 to the heads of their horses on this particular day. 



Many village clubs or friendly societies meet in 

 the spring, others in autumn. The day is sometimes 

 fixed by the date of the ancient feast. The club and 

 fete threaten, indeed, to supplant the feast altogether ; 

 the friendly society having been taken under the 



