November
the 11th, (Martinmas,) was the great day, in good old times, for
slaughtering cattle and pigs, to be salted down for a winter supply of
meat. At Martinmas likewise the " gude wife " had her " puddings to
prepare," long strings cf home-made sausages, or hogs' puddings, black
and white, which would keep for a considerable time, and were often
dried, and hung up, with the hams, and bacon, the pickled pork, and the
pigs' heads, the corned mutton, and " hung" beef (known as Martinmas
beef), in the great open chimneys of the old-fashioned kitchens. Quaint
Tusser tells thus (Five Hundred Points of Husbandrie) :—
" And Martinmass beefe doth beare goode tacke, When country folks do dainties lacke."
In
Germany there was a " Feast of Sausages" celebrated at this season with
much merriment, when the new wines of the year were tasted for the
first time. Schoolboys then went about singing of St. Martin, " Whom
all the people worshippeth with roasted geese, and wine."
Akin
to this topic of the Blood, are the Scriptural words of Agur, the son
of Jakeh ; even the Prophecy (Book of Proverbs, cap. xxx. v. 33)
: " Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing
of the nose bringeth forth blood ; so the forcing of wrath bringeth
forth strife." About butter, a passing note may be taken of the curious
practice which obtains at Cambridge of selling butter by the yard. The
dairymen there roll the butter so as to form a long stick weighing a
pound ; which they sell in slices, as if it were a German sausage. In
the Cambridge markets the butter merchants do not need to use either
scales, or weights. By continued practice they are able to divide
