7 
EEB-TME AND HARVEST. 
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•sisted of rigging up the rude figure of a 
man, stuffed with rags, straw, and so forth, 
and fastening it to a horse. A crowd of 
people, styled its attendants, accompanied 
it and called at every public house to beg 
liquor for themselves. The procession fre¬ 
quented the country roads and, during the 
progress, the figure was shot at from va¬ 
rious points. The journey over, the figure 
was fastened to the market cross where 
it was shot at, set on fire and trampled on, 
until nothing of its originality remained. 
Riot and confusion reigned supreme; being 
increased by having a stream of water 
turned on from the reservoir upon the 
tumultuous crowd. 
An author, in commenting on the fore¬ 
going, adds: “This custom is applied to 
another purpose. The occupation of fche 
last couple married in the old year is rep¬ 
resented on the effigy. If a tailor, the 
shears hang dangling by his side; if a 
draper, the cloth-yard, and so on. The 
-effigy then, at the usual time, visits the 
happy couple’s door, and, unless the bearers 
are fed in a handsome manner, the divid¬ 
ing gentlemen are not to be easily got rid 
of. Some writers state that it is the first 
couple in the new year; but this is incorrect, 
as there is always great pressing for mar¬ 
rying on New Year’s Day, in order to be 
sufficiently early in the year.” 
It seems to me that the modern way of 
“serenading” a newly married couple with 
tin pans, fish horns, etc., must have been 
derived from this last named custom. 
About the Easter season—some aver that 
it was on Easter Sunday—children, and 
even the rustic swains, used to go “Sugar 
Cupping,” at the Dropping Tor; which 
was a place where water fell. A cup was 
taken in one hand, and a quarter of a 
pound of sugar in the other. Sufficient 
water was caught in the cup, the sugar 
dissolved in it and drank ; yet no one seems 
to know how it originated, or what it sig¬ 
nified. if it signified anything; but some 
of these practices get so changed, in the 
course of years, from what they originally 
meant that, at last, they reach us without 
any meaning whatever. 
Ball Playing was one of the many rural 
amusements after the Lenten Season was 
finished. Stool Ball has been mentioned 
by many old writers; but we cannot tell 
how it was played. Dr. Johnson describes 
it as, “a play where balls are driven from 
stool to stool;” yet he does not say in what 
manner, or to what purpose. Foot ball 
and Hand ball were played much the same 
as with us, although I think base ball is one 
of the “modern institutions.” In 1830, and 
thereabout, Foot ball fell into disrepute in 
England; the people there seemed to “take” 
to “cricket.” 
In the old days, the rural people of Eng¬ 
land were wont to play Hand ball for tan¬ 
sy cakes. These tansy cakes, or rather 
tansy puddings, as they were styled by 
some, symbolized the bitter herbs used by 
the Jews at their Paschal. And here, 
I must scissor another bit of information: 
“A ball custom used to prevail annually at 
Bury St. Edmund’s, Suffolk. On Shrove 
Tuesday, Easter Monday and Whitsuntide 
Festivals, twelve old women sided off for 
a game of trap-and-bad, which was kept up 
with the greatest spirit and vigor until 
sunset. One old lady named Gill, upwards 
of sixty years of age. had been celebrated 
as the ‘mistress of the sports,’ for a number 
of years; and it afforded much of the good 
humor to flow ’round whilst the merry 
combatants dexterously hurled the giddy 
ball to and fro. Afterwards they retired 
to their homes where ‘Voice, fiddle or flute, 
no longer were mute’ and closed the day 
with apportioned mirth and merriment.” 
A certain day in April was sometimes 
called “Hock,”sometimes “Hoke Day,” and 
just as often “Hoke Tide,” which was a 
movable festival and depended upon 
Easter; but it occured on the Tuesdav 
after that Sunday. The principal sport of 
the day was for men and women to divide 
mto parties and to bind and draw each 
other by ropes. Tradition states that the 
binders would tie all the persons they met, 
who could only be released on the payment 
of a small sum of money; this was called 
“hock money,” and was always laid out 
for pious purposes. Antiquarians have 
always been puzzled as to the derivation of 
this day, and some declare the festival did 
not take place until the fifteenth day after 
Easter. If they cannot solve the mystery. 
