houts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
holla, largess!"--largess being the presents of money and good things
which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
light-heartedness.

The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.

"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
them for their harsh treatment.

The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
English bowmen, and won for them man