Dear sir,—I hand you the following authentic particulars which happened in the pleasant village of S****n B****r, and gave rise to “dancing round the harrow:” if worthy of being chronicled in the Table Book, they are yours.
John Jones, not finding his lovesuit successful with his master’s daughter, because her father, a farmer, rebuked him, took umbrage, threw down his whip on the “harrow” in the field, left the team, and, sans cérémonie, went to sea.
The farmer and his daughter Nancy were variously affected by this circumstance.—“Comfortable letters” were hoped for, news was expected from some corner of the world, but no tidings arrived as to the fate or designs of honest John. Village gossips often talked of the poor lad. The farmer himself, who was a good sort of man, began to relent; for Nancy’s cheeks were not so rosy as formerly; she was dull at milking time. Observers at church whispered,—“How altered Nancy R* appears!” * * *
After a lapse of about six years appearances change favourably. John returns from sea auspiciously—meets his Nancy with open arms—her father finds him disposed to make her happy—John requests forgiveness, and is pardoned—his steadiness and attachment are tried and approved—and—suffice it to say—John and Nancy are married. He assists her father in the duties of the farm as his years decline, while she supplies the absence of her mother, buried in the family grave of the church-yard of her native village. * * * *
As soon as the wedding took place, a “harrow” was brought on the grass-plot in the fore-close, when the villagers invited danced round it till daybreak. * * * *
This “dancing round the harrow” was kept on several anniversaries of the wedding-day; a young family and the old projector’s decease occasioned its discontinuance; but, on each of these occasions, John does not forget to present, instead, a not less acceptable offering, a good supper to his workfolks in remembrance of his advance in life.
I am, dear sir,
Goat and Boots, Yours very truly,
August 3, 1827. Jehoiada.