£;5 Wild Life in a Southern County 



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 in- 

 roads, 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 very few now bake at home ; 

 they have their bread from the baker, who comes round in 

 the smallest hamlets. Possibly they had a more whole- 

 some 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 me- 

 chanician has invaded the ancient customs ; the very 

 sheaves are now to be bound with wire by the same ma- 

 chine that reaps the corn. The next generation of country 

 folk will hardly be able to understand the story of Ruth. 



