Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/170

162 V. A song of the reapers. At the corn-harvest, the females have no other clothing than a shift, tied about the waist with a string, or a stripe of list. No coat or gown have they, no neckcloth or handkerchief; their whole apparel consists in a shift, a ribbon about the head to tie up the hair, and a few beads that hang about their neck. The men wear a pair of linen trowsers besides the shirt; all go barefoot. How cutting to the German landlords ought the last line but one of the following sonnet to be! As its proper effect, it should teach them a little humanity: for never were human creatures treated with less than the Esthonian and Livonian peasants. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th, are certainly ingenious and significant. They are a tissue of delicate sentiment, sarcasm, and simplicity.

VI. The summer is short in Esthonia. So early as the middle of August, heavy rains and bleak winds frequently interrupt the hay-making. They are therefore obliged to toil with redoubled force at this employment on the sun-shining days. If the boor were free, and might call what he mowed his own, there would be no need of having recourse to coercion to increase the velocity of his arm. But a large plot of ground is prescribed him as a task: "This must be mown to-day, or there is no rest for thee." The overseer stands by him with the stick in his hand, which he lays plentifully on the backs of those who, in his judgment, do not move their arms quick enough. The bailiff receives an order, at the hay-season, to turn out all the people