SEED-TIME km HARVEST. 
7 
began dancing at seven o’clock and finished 
at twelve, when they sat down to lobscouse 
and ponsondie; the former was made of 
beef, potatoes and onions fried together; 
and in ponsondie we recognize the wassail, 
or waeshael, of ale, boiled with sugar and 
nutmeg, into which was put roasted apples, 
the anciently admired lamb’s-wool. The 
feast was paid for by subscription. Two 
women were chosen, who with two wood¬ 
en bowls, so as to leave an opening and a 
space between them, go round to the fe¬ 
male part of the society in succession, and 
what one put into the uppermost bowl the 
attendant collectress slipped into the bowl 
beneath it. All were expected to contrib¬ 
ute something, but not more than a shilling, 
and they were best esteemed who gave the 
most. The men chose two from themselves 
and followed the custom, except that as 
the male sex are not supposed to be so fair 
in their dealings as the ladies, one of the 
collectors was furnished with pen, ink and 
paper to set down the subscriptions as soon 
as received.” 
The pastry cooks vied with each other 
to present the largest and best of cakes, to 
have the prettiest shopwomen to wait on 
customers, to nut the most tempting dis¬ 
play of toothsome articles in their windows 
to attract the passer-by and induce him to 
make heavy purchases. There was a great¬ 
er crowd of lookers-in at these windows 
than there was of customers within the 
shop. And here there was a custom among 
the boys—but from what it arose no one 
knows—of pinning people together, fasten¬ 
ing the coat-tails of a man’s coat to the 
dress of some woman, or nailing coat-tails 
fast against the wood-work. While some 
would be laughing at the vexation of those 
who had these tricks played upon them, 
they would soon be made aware such had 
been their own fate, and their smiles were 
turned to frowns; their laughter to dire 
rage. And how innocent the young rogues 
did look ! And this uncle of mine tells me 
that when he was a little shaver, he thought 
it the jolliest kind of jollity to be a pinner 
or a nailer; but, when he grew older and 
had these pranks played on him, he said he 
thought such proceedings were very sin¬ 
ful, ought to be put a stop to, and where 
were the police? 
Plough Monday was the first Monday 
after Twelfth Day, and seems to have 
been so called because the husbandmen re¬ 
sumed the plough and it was the occasion 
of so much jollification and frolic. The 
rural people appear to have loved the im¬ 
plements of their occupations because they 
gave them the means of obtaining a living. 
On this holiday the plough was drawn in 
procession to the doors of villagers and 
town’s-people. Long ropes were attached 
to it, and we read that thirty or forty men 
drew the plough along; “Their arms and 
elbows were decorated with gay colored 
ribbons tied in large knots and bows, and 
their hats were smartened in the same way. 
They were usually accompanied by^an old 
woman, or a boy dressed up to represent 
one; she was gailyjbedizened *and called 
Bessy. Sometimes the sport was assisted 
by a humorous countryman to represent a 
fool. He was covered with ribbons and 
attired in skins, and carried a box to collect 
money from the spectators. They were 
attended by music and morris dancers and 
there was always a sportive dance with a 
few lassies in all their finery and ribbons.” 
Little work was done in the field at the 
Christmas season, as gentlemen feasted the 
farmers and the farmers feasted their ser¬ 
vants and taskmen. 
It was on Plough Monday that men and 
maidens vied with each other to see which 
should rise the earliest and thus show 
which was the readiest at commencing 
their accustomed work. If the ploughman 
could get his whip, his plough-staff, hatch¬ 
et or any field implement, by the fireside 
before the maid could get her kettle on* 
she lost her shrove-tide fowl to the men. 
It was in this way that the old English 
farmers strove to allure youth to duty, and 
mixed their labor with innocent mirth. 
Then there came St. Agnes Eve and this 
festival was of great importance to maidens 
who desired to know whom they should 
marry. It must have been a task to those 
fond of the good things of life, for only 
those who fasted on that day (Jan. 20,) 
could know whom the happy man would 
be. Maybe some of my lady readers are 
curious to know how such knowledge 
could be attained. An old authority in 
