Partly work, and partly play, Ye must, on _St. Distaff's day_: From the Plough soone free your teame; Then come home and fother them. If the Maides a spinning goe, Burne the flax, and fire the tow: Bring in pails of water then, Let the Maides bewash the men. Give _S. Distaffe_ all the right, Then bid Christmas sport _good-night_. And, next morrow, every one To his owne vocation. [Footnote 94: A name for a spinning wheel.] The men, however, could not settle down to work so speedily, serious work not beginning till after "Plough Monday," or the Monday after Twelfth Day. Tusser says: Plough Munday, next after that twelf tide is past, Bids out with the plough--the worst husband is last. If plowman get hatchet, or whip to the skrene, Maids loseth their cocke, if no water be seen. This verse would be rather enigmatical were it not explained in _Tusser Redivivus_ (1744, p. 79). "After Christmas (which, formerly, during the twelve days, was a time of very little work) every gentleman feasted the farmers, and every farmer their servants and task-men. _Plough Monday_ puts them in mind of their business. In the morning, the men and the maid-servants strive who shall show their diligence in rising earliest. If the ploughman can get his whip, his ploughstaff, hatchet, or any thing that he wants in the field, by the fireside before the maid hath got her kettle on, then the maid loseth her Shrove-tide cock, and it belongs wholly to the men. Thus did our forefathers strive to allure youth to their duty, and provided them with innocent mirth as well as labour. On this Plough Monday they have a good supper and some strong drink." In many parts of the country it was made a regular festival, but, like all these old customs, it has fallen into desuetude. However, Hone's _Every-Day Book_ was not written so long ago, and he there says: "In some parts of the country, and especially in the North, they draw the plough in procession to the doors of the villagers and townspeople. Long ropes are attached to it, and thirty or forty men, stripped to their clean white shirts, but protected from the weather by waistcoats beneath, drag it along. Their arms and shoulders are decorated with gay coloured ribbons tied in large knots and bows, and their hats are smartened in the same way. They are usually accompanied by an old woman, or a boy dressed up to represent one; she is gaily bedizened, and called the _Bessy_. Sometimes the sport is assisted by a humourous countryman to represent a _fool_. He is covered with ribbons, and attired in skins, with a depending tail, and carries a box to collect money from the spectators. They are attended by music and Morris Dancers, when they can be got; but it is always a sportive dance with a few lasses in all their finery, and a superabundance of ribbons. The money collected is spent at night in conviviality."