"I didn't think we'd need one so soon," replied his friend. "What a nice sort of a chap that New York fellow was, though! and to think he can't be a German officer when he wants to, and I can!"
"So can I, and will, too," added Albert; and thus it came to pass that the army of the Empire was enriched by two recruits, gained for it by a young republican from America.
[BEATING THE PARISH BOUNDS.]
This is a very ancient custom in England, and one that is particularly interesting to boys, as they have generally taken a very prominent part in it. First, it must be understood that all England is divided into parishes—a division recognized by the civil as well as the ecclesiastical law of the land. A parish is that circuit of ground, whether in the city or country, which is committed to the spiritual care of one clergyman. Now the boundaries of these parishes are very rarely defined by any law, except that of custom; and hence in most places it was and is customary once a year to make a solemn procession around the bounds of the parish.
The time appointed by the Church for this procession is one of the three days before Holy Thursday, or Ascension-day, and it had two acknowledged motives: one, to supplicate the blessing of God on the coming harvest; the other, to preserve a correct knowledge of the parish bounds and rights from one generation to another.
Before the Reformation, these processions were conducted with great pomp. The lord of the manor, carrying a large banner, and the priests, carrying crosses, led the procession, "saying or singing gospels to the growing corn." The principal men and all the boys of the village followed them, and the day ended in feasts and games, with "drinking and good cheer." After the Reformation, Queen Elizabeth ordered the custom to be continued. The curate or minister of the parish was required, at certain places, to stop and give thanks to God, and pray for His blessing on the coming harvest; and when the parish bounds had been clearly defined, the procession was to return with singing to the parish church and listen to the 104th Psalm, and such sentences as "Cursed be he which translateth (altereth) the bounds and doles of his neighbor." Izaak Walton says the great and good Bishop Hooker never by any means omitted this custom, and that during the walk he "would always drop some facetious and loving observations to the boys and young people, still inclining them to mutual kindness and love, because love thinks no evil, but covers a multitude of infirmities."
These processions were justified by the civil law in maintaining the ancient parish bounds, even if they were opposed by the owners of the property over which they beat or walked; and this necessity to keep the old track often caused curious incidents. If a canal had been cut through the bounds, or a river formed part of the line, some one must pass over it; and the lads of the parish were all so ambitious of the honor that it was usually settled by lot. If a house had been erected on the bounds, they claimed and took the right of passing through it. In a house in Buckinghamshire, still standing, the oven only is on the boundary line, and a boy is put into the recess in order to preserve its integrity. A still more comical scene occurred in London about seventy years ago, as the procession of church-wardens and an immense concourse of boys were "beating the bounds" of the famous parish of St. George, Hanover Square. The march was stopped by a nobleman's carriage standing fairly across the boundary line. The carriage was empty, waiting for its owner, who was in the opposite house. The principal church-warden, therefore—who was also a nobleman—desired the coachman to drive out of the way. "I won't," he answered; "my lord told me to wait here, and here I'll wait till his lordship tells me to move." Upon which the church-warden coolly opened the carriage door, entered it, passed out through the opposite door, and was followed by the whole procession, cads, sweeps, and scavengers.
At this time the religious character of the ceremony had been quite lost, and "beating the bounds" had become an excuse for a great deal of rudeness and excess; so that for half a century the custom fell into very general contempt and disuse. However, within the last few years it has been restored in many parishes, and with all those pleasant solemnities that made the good Bishop Hooker regard it so favorably. The clergyman in full canonicals, and the boy choristers in their white robes, singing, lead the procession, which includes now, as it has always done, every lad who can by any means procure a holiday from school or work to follow it.
And surely it is a beautiful custom. How sweet must be the voices of the young choristers singing psalms among the growing corn to Him who maketh the "sun to shine and the rains to descend upon the earth, so that it may bring forth its fruit in due season!"