Rural Sports of Old England. 
BY FRANK S. FINN. 
Number VI. 
If June, the month of roses, brought with 
it much work, it also brought many sports, 
pastimes and customs; for the rural popu¬ 
lation seemed to give a practical illustra¬ 
tion of the old proverb: “All work and no 
play makes Jack a dull boy;” and who can 
deny that they were happier and better for 
so doing? 
There were so many of these pleasurable 
times, we have not space to record them all; 
but must select a few which we think will 
prove most interesting. 
“Sheep shearing” has been, and, it is but 
natural to suppose, always will be one of 
the industrial sports, for there appears to 
be some kind of fascination in all the grades 
of the work, whether persons are employed 
in the same or merely lookers on. The 
driving of the sheep into the water, the 
washing and cleansing of the same is simi¬ 
lar to that in our own country—and as the 
majority of the readers of this magazine 
are dwellers in the country, and have seen 
the operation performed so often—if they 
have not been a participant in it—it seems 
scarcely necessary to repeat it here. The 
shearing, itself, is conducted a little differ¬ 
ently than at any place where the writer 
has been. It has been his fate to see it as a 
merely, quiet affair carried on by two or 
three people in some barn, and there did 
not seem to be much sport in that; at least, 
it seemed to lack any sort of amusement, 
and the manner in which the sheep acted 
during the operation would have led you to 
believe the sheep were of the same opinion. 
But this, surely, must be different on the 
“other side of the big pond”—there it is 
lively, animated and spirit-stirring and 
gathers together a great crowd, who think 
it is as good as a play or the circus—and 
if you have any doubts on the subject, let 
the following dispel them. The description 
is taken from an eye-witness: “This shear¬ 
ing is no less lively nor picturesque than 
the washing. The shearers, seated in rows 
beside the crowded pens, with the seeming¬ 
ly inanimate load of fleece in their laps, 
and bending intently over their work; the 
occasional whetting and clapping of the- 
shears: the neatly attired housewives, wait¬ 
ing to receive the fleeces, the smoke from 
‘the tar-kettle, ascending through the clear 
air; the shorn sheep escaping, one bygone, 
from their temporary bondage, and trotting 
away towards their distant brethren, bleat¬ 
ing all the while for their lambs who do not 
know them: all this, with its ground of 
universal green, and finished everywhere 
fby its leafy distances, except where the 
village spire intervenes, forms together a 
living picture, pleasanter to look upon 
than words can speak; but still pleasanter 
to think of, when that is the nearest ap¬ 
proach you can make of it.” 
St. John’s Eve, or, as it is sometimes 
styled, “Midsummer Eve,” must have been 
a sociable time, because, on this occasion,, 
when a person had, in the course of the 
year, changed a residence into a new neigh¬ 
borhood, he spread a table before his door 
in the street, with quite a treat in the way 
of bread and cheese and ale, to which every 
one was welcome. After the people had 
had sufficient lunch, the master of the 
house invited all his guests into his domi¬ 
cile, and if he were blest with sufficient 
means, gave them all a right good supper, 
and the evening concluded with singing, 
dancing, plays, and recreations. It has 
been said that the origin of this most ex¬ 
cellent custom is unknown, but it is also 
stated that it was probably instituted for 
the purpose of introducing new-comers to 
an early acquaintance with their neighbors; 
or, with the more laudable design of settling 
differences, by the meeting and mediation 
of friends. But, whichever is the true 
reason, we doubtless have derived the open¬ 
ing of a new house to friends and neigh¬ 
bors,— and which is named a “house-warm¬ 
ing”—from this old custom on St. John’s 
Eve. 
On this night, large bonfires illuminated 
the landscape, and the people danced 
around and about them just as they danced 
around the May-poles when they were in 
season. This appears to have been a sport 
not confined to England, as I have read ac¬ 
counts of the same in various other portions 
of the world. As the people of the United 
States celebrate their political victories in 
