94 Reaping and Gleaning. 



The thumping of drums, the blaring of trumpets, 

 the tootUng of pan-pipes in front of the shows, fill 

 the air with a din which may be heard miles awaj', 

 and seem to give the crowd intense pleasure — far 

 more than the crack band of the Coldstream Guards 

 could impart. Nor are they ever weary of gazing at 

 the ' pelican of the wilderness ' as the showman de- 

 scribes it — a mournful bird with draggled feathers 

 standing by the entrance, a traditional part of his 

 stock-in-trade. One attraction — perhaps the strong- 

 est — may be found in the fact that all the country- 

 side is sure to be there. Each laborer or laboring 

 woman will meet acquaintances from distant villages 

 they have not seen or heard of for months. The 

 rural gossip of half a county will be exchanged. 



In the autumn after the harvest the gleaning is still 

 an important time to the cottager, though nothing 

 like it used to be. Reaping by machinery has made 

 rapid inroads, and there is not nearly so much left 

 behind as in former days. Yet half the women and 

 children of the place go out and glean, but ver}' few 

 now bake at home ; the}' have their bread from the 

 baker, who comes round in the smallest hamlets. 

 Possibly they had a more wholesome article in the 

 olden time, when the wheat from their gleanings was 

 ground at the village mill, and the flour made into 

 bread at home. But the cunning of the mechanician 

 has invaded the ancient customs ; the very sheaves 

 are now to be bound with wire by the same machine 

 that reaps the corn. The next generation of country 

 folk will hardly be able to understand the story of 

 Ruth. 



