ty that this interesting custom is not more faithfully
transcribed into our national poetry; and it is with the hope that a
future Burns may make the attempt, that the writer of this article
ventures to give a short history of his gleaning-days, believing the
subject to be interesting enough to engage the attention of the
general reader.

Though born amid the grandeur and sublimity of Highland scenery, I
was, at a very early age, brought to reside in a small village on the
east coast--small now, but once the most famous and important town in
that part of Scotland. Among the scenes of these times, none stand out
more vividly than the 'gathering-days'--the harvest of the year's
enjoyment--the time when a whole twelvemonth's happiness was
concentrated in the six weeks' vacation of the village-school. I do
not recollect the time when I began to glean--or _gather_, as it is
locally termed--probably I would, when very young, follow the others
to the near farms, and gradually become, as I grew older, a regular
gleaner. At that time the gleaners in our district were divided into
two gangs or parties. One of these was headed by four old women, whose
shearing-days were past; and as they were very peaceable, decent
bodies, it was considered an honour to get attached to their band. The
other was composed of the wilder spirits of the place, who thought
nothing of jumping dikes, breaking hedges, stealing turnips, and
committing other depredations on the farms which they visited.
Fortunately, my quiet disposition, and supposed good character,
procured my admittance into the more respectable gang; and I had the
honour of sharing its fortunes during the five or six years I
continued a gleaner. I was surprised to see one of these old ladies
toddling about the village only a few weeks ago, though her
gathering-days are long since past. She is the last survivor of the
quorum, and is now fast fading into dotage.

Although the two gleaning-parties never assumed a positive antagonism,
they took care to conceal their movements from each other as well as
possible. When one of our party received information of a field being
'ready,' the fact was secretly conveyed to all the members, with an
injunction to be 'in such a place at such an hour' on the following
morning; and the result generally was, that we had a considerable
portion of the field gleaned before the other gang arrived. But we did
not always act on previous information. Many a morni