icks with which Benjy himself had won renown
long ago as an old gamester, against the picked men of Wiltshire and
Somersetshire, in many a good bout at the revels and pastimes of the
country-side. For he had been a famous back-swordman in his young days,
and a good wrestler at elbow and collar.

Back-swording and wrestling were the most serious holiday pursuits of
the Vale--those by which men attained fame--and each village had its
champion. I suppose that, on the whole, people were less worked then
than they are now; at any rate, they seemed to have more time and energy
for the old pastimes. The great times for back-swording came round once
a year in each village; at the feast. The Vale "veasts" were not
the common statute feasts, but much more ancient business. They are
literally, so far as one can ascertain, feasts of the dedication--that
is, they were first established in the churchyard on the day on which
the village church was opened for public worship, which was on the wake
or festival of the patron saint, and have been held on the same day in
every year since that time.

There was no longer any remembrance of why the "veast" had been
instituted, but nevertheless it had a pleasant and almost sacred
character of its own; for it was then that all the children of the
village, wherever they were scattered, tried to get home for a holiday
to visit their fathers and mothers and friends, bringing with them their
wages or some little gift from up the country for the old folk. Perhaps
for a day or two before, but at any rate on "veast day" and the day
after, in our village, you might see strapping, healthy young men and
women from all parts of the country going round from house to house in
their best clothes, and finishing up with a call on Madam Brown,
whom they would consult as to putting out their earnings to the best
advantage, or how best to expend the same for the benefit of the old
folk. Every household, however poor, managed to raise a "feast-cake"
and a bottle of ginger or raisin wine, which stood on the cottage table
ready for all comers, and not unlikely to make them remember feast-time,
for feast-cake is very solid, and full of huge raisins. Moreover,
feast-time was the day of reconciliation for the parish. If Job Higgins
and Noah Freeman hadn't spoken for the last six months, their "old
women" would be sure to get it patched up by that day. And though there
was a good deal of drinking and low vice in the boo