IRatutre IRotes: 
Ube Selbovne Society’s ^IDagasine. 
No. 32. AUGUST, 1892. VoL, III. 
A GLEANERS’ QUEEN. 
HE readers of Nature Notes may be interested in a short 
account of the gleaning customs in a village near Not- 
tingham, which I had the pleasure of seeing four years 
ago, when I stayed with friends at G, . I went 
with the children and their governess to see th ' proceeil..D,'^s 
from the beginning, and afterwards I was taken to pa}'- a \ isit 
to the old lady who had first borne the rank and style of Queen 
of the Gleaners. 
The gleaners assembled in the market-place, at the public 
fountain, where the queen stood with her bell. The women and 
children walked together to the fields, waiting at the gate until 
the signal for entering' was '• given by the ringing of this bell. 
But before this signal the subscription of a penny for each 
person was paid to the queen, and the laws were proclaimed 
which all the gleaners were to promise to observe. They were 
— not to interfere with the turnips, not to break down hedges, 
and to shut the gates. Assent w'as given in the formula “ Oh 
yea, and oh yes ! ” The penalty, I was told, for breaking a law 
was the scattering of the offender’s corn. There would be a tea 
at the end of the gleaning, paid for by subscriptions from the 
farmers. The women wore aprons with large pockets, and 
either a knife or a pair of scissors hung from the waist. A 
large bag was tucked into the waistband behind, which elicited 
“chaff” as to dress-improvers. Royalty was not spared, for I 
heard a farmer who was driving by call out “ S — doesn’t want 
one,” S— , the queen, being a very portly person indeed. The 
ceremonies W'ere less imposing than in the days of the first 
queen, for she had been crowned year by year ! 
“ Why don’t they crown the queen now ? ” 
“ Oh, the old gleaners is gone, and I suppose the new ones 
don’t care to kape the old laws.” 
Of course we w'ent into the fields and assisted in the glean- 
