Page:An Old English Home and Its Dependencies.djvu/219

Rh also the harvesting was a real delight. The reapers, with their hooks, worked their way along in rows. It cannot be better described than in the Harvest Song, well known in the south-west of England:

The corn is all ripe, and the reapings begin, The fruits of the earth, O we gather them in; At morning so early the reap-hooks we grind, And away to the fields for to reap and to bind; The foreman goes first in the hot summer glow, And he sings with a laugh, my lads, all of a row.


 * Then, all of a row! then all of a row!
 * And to-night we will sing boys, All of a row!

We're in, says the catchpole, behind and before, We'll have a fresh edge and a sheaf or two more. The master stands back for to see us behind; Well done, honest fellows, bring the sheaves to the bind. Well done, honest fellows, pare up your first brink, You shall have a fresh edge, and a half pint to drink.


 * Then, all of a row! etc.

And so we go through the heat of the day, Some reaping, some binding, all merry and gay. We'll reap and we'll bind, we will whistle and sing, Unflagging until the last sheaf we bring in. It's all our enjoyment wherever we go, To work and to sing, Brothers, all of a row.


 * Then, all of a row! etc.