tful "Winter Song":

"When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

"When all aloud the wind doth blow
And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."

Among the gossips there would be much talk of wonders, appearances,
mysterious occurrences, and charms; and the children listened with all
their ears, you may be sure. Perhaps one of Mistress Shakspere's friends
possessed the power that some people in Warwickshire still are said to
possess, of charming away warts by a touch and some murmured invocation;
or curing toothache and all other aches and pains. There are plenty of
people now who, after your second cup of tea is finished, will take the
cup, twist the grounds around three times, turn it mouth downward in the
saucer, and then, by looking at the tea-leaves which still stick to the
bottom of the cup, will undertake to tell you what is going to
happen--of presents you will receive, or people who are coming to see
you. And many Warwickshire women still believe firmly that
whooping-cough can be charmed away by the patient walking nine times
over running water.

[Illustration: "THE HEDGE-ROWS WERE FULL, AS THEY ARE TO THIS DAY, OF
WILD APPLES, WILD PEARS, AND 'CRABS.'"]

The boys' games of those days were much the same as they are to-day.
Each game then, as now, had its regular season in the year. In the
season for marbles, no one would dream of playing anything else.
"Knuckle-hole" is still the favorite game in Warwickshire. The
standing-up game, pitching the taw from a mark scraped across the
ground, is, I am told by competent authorities, rather going out of
fashion; but it is still played. The marble season lasts through the
late winter, much to the distraction of mothers, who have to clean and
mend their sons' nether garments, which are worn with kneeling and
plastered with mud at that time of year. Then comes the spinning-top,
whip-top, and peg-top