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SHROPSHIRE FOLK-LORE:

'The history of no people can be said to have been written so long as its superstitions
and beliefs in past times have not been studied.'-Professor Rhys.

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TRÜBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.

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FEB 13 1911 BU45 B93

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CHAPTER XXVII.

CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS

CONCERNING DAYS AND SEASONS.

V. HARVEST.

"Ah, what a time it is, that finishing day of the harvest!
When the last load comes home, joyously into the yard;
Labourers, women and men, all shouting and singing around it—
Glad that their work is done; scenting the supper at last!
Labourers, women and men, come gathering in to that supper,
Silent and shy at first, thinking of what there will be,
What there will be to eat, for that is the principal question;
Drink we are sure there will be-every one knows there is beer."
Dorothy, a Country Story, Bk. I., 1. 278.

ERHAPS nothing in undergone a more complete and more recent change than has the ingathering of the harvest since the introduction of reaping-machines some twenty years ago. Even before that time, dissatisfaction with the old slow methods of reaping and 'badging,' or 'swiving,' was widely felt; and the sickle was already giving place to the 'broad hook,' and that to the scythe, when all alike made way for the machine.' And the agricultural labourers of the present generation often do not even know the correct names, much less the uses, of the time-honoured tools with which their fathers toiled so patiently day after day from dawn to dark.2

all the range of country life has

1 When first introduced, this was commonly called the 'engine' at Edgmond: while a steam-engine was known as a 'steamer,' or 'stemmer.'

2 For descriptions of the various ancient methods of harvesting, see Shropshire Word-Book, s. v. Badge, Bag, Shear, Swine, Saw-Sickle, Taskers, Flygang, etc.

BK. II.

BB