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Show . j, SCYTHE AS CHURCH ORNAMENT Placed There to Commemorate Peasants' Peas-ants' Defense of Their Faith. At tho first sight tho scytho Is a strango ornament for a church, but thoro Is nothing Incongruous in thoso curious agricultural Implements as fieen iu tho parish church of St. Mary's, at Horncasfle, In Lincolnshire. Thirteen of thcso blades aro nailed above tho door In tho noith chapel. At ono time tho blado numbered forty or fifty, but owing to rust nnd decay many of them havo been lost. Each of tho scythes Is about a yard In length. Tho general bellof is that thoso blades were placed in tho church In commomoratlon of tho zeal of peasants peas-ants who wielded them in dofonso of their faith In tho rebellion known as "Tho Pllgrlmago of Graco," which had Its rise at Louth In 153G. Whon the pcoplo saw tho ruins of tholr churches and abbeys, thoy roso in revolt, and arming thomselves with tho instruments of husbandry, such as scythes, thoy went forth to on-counter on-counter tho enomy. They were beaten and dispersed, but In tho eyes of tholr countrymen thoy wcro heroes, and tho rudo Implements Imple-ments -with which thoy fought wero deemed worthy of nn abiding placo in the oldcburch, whore tho poasantB hnd worshlppHv Christian Ago. |