SECOND WEEK-TUESDAY.

GLEANING.

IN European countries, the humane practice prevails of permitting the poor to glean the corn fields, after the reapers. It is a practice obviously founded on the Mosaic law, and is at least as old as the entrance of the Children of Israel into possession of the land of Canaan. By that law, the destitute inhabitants were permitted to glean three different kinds of produce,—that of the vine, that of the olive, and that of grain. With the view of rendering this law effective for the relief of the poor, it was required, that, after the olive-tree was beaten, the owner should not "go over the boughs again," and that, when the grapes were gathered, he should not “glean the vineyard afterward ;"-what was left, in both cases, becoming the property of "the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." In like manner, and for the same object, when the farmer reaped his corn, he was forbidden to make "a clean riddance" of the corners of the field, or to gather any of the gleanings; and he was even enjoined to abstain from removing, for his own use, any sheaf, which, when carrying home his grain, he might inadvertently have left behind. Every one is acquainted with the beautiful and affecting story of Ruth, the Moabitess, in which this practice, as it prevailed among the descendants of Abraham, is graphically introduced. The benevolent intention of this law cannot be mistaken; and the custom, though not enjoined by the Gospel, is too conformable to its spirit to have been overlooked or neglected in almost any quarter where Christianity has extended its influence.

On the subject of gleaning, as practised in England, the following sensible observations are extracted from the Journal of a Naturalist. "It may be difficult to

comprehend how the picking up of a head of corn here, and another there, should be a remunerative employ; but in this case, like all other slow operations, a distant result, rather than an instant effect, is looked for. I have found some little difficulty in obtaining intelligence sufficient to acquire a knowledge of the gain by this employ. The poor are often jealous and suspicious of the motives, when any attempts are made to procure information regarding their profits and improvements; and, indeed, the advantages of one year are uncertain in another. Catching, doubtful seasons, when the farmer collects in haste, and is unmindful of trifles, afford the best harvest to the gleaner. In fine settled weather, the operation of reaping is conducted with more deliberation, and less corn is scattered about. When a woman, with two or three active children, 'lease'* in concert, it becomes a beneficial employ. I have heard of a family in the parish thus engaged, who have, in one season, obtained eight bushels of clear wheat; but this was excess. I know a single woman, also, who has gleaned, in the same period, four bushels and a half; but this, again, was under very favourable and partial circumstances. In general, a good leaser is satisfied, if she can obtain, single-handed, a clear three bushels in the season, which gives her about a bushel in the week; and, if taken at seven shillings, is a very reasonable, and far from being a very great, accession of profit, less perhaps than is generally supposed to be the emolument of the gleaner; and this may have been acquired by the active labour of eight or nine hours. Yet, such is the ardour of this occupation; the enjoyment of this full association with their neighbours; the prattle, the gossip, the glee, the excitement it occasions,-that I am sure the allowance of fourteen pence a-day, certain and constant, would hardly be accepted by my leasing neighbours in place. of it. Indeed, I would not offer it, believing that this gleaning season is looked forward to with anxiety and

* Glean.

satisfaction, and is a season, too, in which the children of a family can contribute to its support, without pain and undue exertion; and viewing, with much approbation and pleasure, this long-established custom."

Mr Knapp here alludes to the enjoyment of the gleaners in the harvest field; but there is a pleasure of a far purer and more interesting kind, arising from a domestic source. Let us figure to ourselves a poor widow, whose "bread-winner" has been removed from her head, while a family of little children were rising around her, unable to labour, yet clamorous for food. We may imagine what privations she had to sustain, and what anxieties rent her heart, as week after week her hoarded winter stores rapidly diminished under the craving demands of numerous mouths, till, notwithstanding all the self-denial of a most rigid economy, and all the industry and ingenuity of maternal zeal, her scanty stock was at last exhausted, and her little ones claimed their accustomed portions in vain. But harvest is at hand; and, when they cry for food, while her own heart is ready to break, she soothes their importunity with the assurance of coming plenty. How they are enabled,

* Journal of a Naturalist, pp. 349-351. It is curious to observe the origin of ancient superstitions; and the reader will be amused to trace to its source a heathen legend connected with the practice of gleaning. Among the signs of the zodiac, autumn was aptly represented under the emblem of a young female gleaner with an ear of corn in her hand, whence the brilliant star which marks that constellation is called in Latin Spica Virginis. The Hebrew word for a ear of corn is Shibboleth, and the Arabic, Sibbul. The name of the ear was transferred to the virgin who carried it, and hence, by a trifling change, she acquired the well known name of Sibyl. "Nothing," says the author of La Systeme de la Nature, "can possibly be more simple than this name in its original. Fiction, however, in process of time grew fashionable; and what was only a symbol at first, was converted into a history. It was suggested that this Sibyl had been transported from the earth into heaven; and, in order to qualify her for her journey, they supplied her, in the figures by which they represented her, with a pair of spacious wings, and zealously asserted, that the spirit of God was infused into her, and that she foretold years of barrenness and plenty. From hence arose the Erythran Sibyl. The history likewise of the Persian and Cumaan Sibyl was cast in the same mould. In short, all such women or priestesses as undertook to divine themselves, or collect the prophecies of others, whether ancient and true, or modern and false, were looked upon as so many Sibyls."-Dialogue xv.

under the pressure of such circumstances, to eke out a miserable existence, is a mystery which experience only can solve. But God thinketh on the poor and needy, and there are few who, in seasons of ordinary plenty, die of absolute want. At last the harvest arrives, and the poor widow, attended by her little eager train, goes forth to glean with her basket under her arm. Hope glistens in her eye, and pleasure, long a stranger, fills her heart, while she instructs the little prattlers in their respective tasks. The labours of parental love are pleasant and unwearying, and the encouraging smile of a mother, as the burden swells, gives animation and eagerness to the competing toils of the childish labourers. Evening comes at last, and it is easier to conceive than describe the enjoyment which pervades that little family group, when, returned to their lowly roof, they proudly contemplate the fruits of their industry, and partake of the plenty which it has procured for them, while they talk over the incidents of this joyful day, and each has his tale of diligence and success to recount. Every benevolent mind must unite with Mr Knapp, in viewing with "much approbation and pleasure," a custom which gives rise to such scenes as these.

Scripture assures us, that "the poor shall never cease out of the land ;" and the truth of this all experience teaches. A new country, such as America, indeed, appears to be, to a considerable extent, an exception to this rule. In the fertile and extensive region of the Western World, where the population is as yet far from being filled up to the measure of the means of subsistence, there can never be any want of employment and of food to the industrious; though, even there, instances must occur of destitute old age and infirmity. In old countries, the case is different. There the demand for labour has been completely met by the supply, and the tendency of population to increase beyond the means of subsistence, having created a superabundance of hands, a competition has taken place among the labouring community, in

some respects salutary, but in others distressing, in its consequences. One unhappy effect of this competition is, that the aged, infirm, and incompetent, are superseded and thrown out, so as to find no employment by which they might earn a livelihood; and, what increases the evil, although, as regards the individuals themselves, less to be lamented, the idle and the profligate come to be included in the list of the needy. Another effect of this struggle for subsistence is, that wages are lowered beneath their due proportion to the necessities of the people; so that persons with large families, in districts where children cannot find ready employment, are subjected to great privations.

These, and other circumstances, into which I cannot stop to inquire, have occasioned a result, which, on a cursory view, must seem surprising and unexpected, that poverty does not diminish in proportion to the prosperity of a community, but, on the contrary, has a tendency in some respects to increase. There is, perhaps, no problem of political economy more difficult of solution, than that which relates to the mode of supplying the wants of the poor. That something should be done by the rich to alleviate the distresses of their destitute fellow-creatures, is an obvious dictate of common humanity, which few will be inclined to dispute. But how the relief can be systematically afforded, without eventually aggravating the evil, is a question of grave import and nice investigation. The difficulty lies in this, that wherever there are known and accessible means of supply, these means will be relied upon, so as to increase the population, and hence permanently to increase the demand; while, at the same time, expectations will be created, and wants will be felt and brought to light, which otherwise would have been resisted and subdued. This result has been remarkably exemplified in the working of the English Poor Laws,-a system founded on the purest principles of benevolence, but defective in political sagacity. The evils of this system have, within