wi't? Ah think we'd betther bon it, if it wad bring us betther luck next tahm.' (What am I to do with it? I think we had better burn it, &c)."
There is a Hornsea rhyme sung by men and children as they bring in the last load:
"We hev her, we hev her
A coo iv a tether," &c.
The last sheaf bound round tightly with its thick straw band is well described as "a cow in a tether."
The following Harvest Home song was supplied to me by Mrs. Gardner, School House, Bilton, East Yorkshire:
1. Here we hev her, as tite[1] as nip,
We nivver threw ower, but yance iv a grip,[2]
Grip was seeah wide, hosses cudn't sthride.
Hip, hip, hooray!
2. Here we hev her, at oor toon end,
A sup o' good yal, an a croon ti spend,
We rave[3] oor shets, we tare[4] oor skins,
Ti get oor maisthers[5] harvest in.
Hip, hip, hooray!
This song, so far as I know, has never been in print, although I have part of it in Folk Speech of East Yorkshire, p. 12.
50, Berkeley Street, Hull, 5th January, 1903.
St. Mark's Eve (April 24TH).
In what districts of the British Isles is St Mark's Eve of paramount importance compared with other eves? In Lincolnshire, apparently, St. Mark's is the day of days for all divination, though St. Agnes' Eve and Hallow Eve have their adherents. Not long since I was told—not for the first time—that all cattle "bow the knee" on St. Mark's, with the addition that on the same eve the bracken shoots up, flowers, and seeds. As to the cattle, I know that in continental folklore the idea is not necessarily limited to Christmas, as most people imagine.
