135. _Meaning of Mop._--In the midland counties, servants are hired by
the year in the following manner. On the several Tuesdays about
Michaelmas, all who wish for engagements collect together at the
different towns and villages, whither the masters resort for the purpose
of hiring them. Those meetings which occur previous to Michaelmas day
are called _statute-fairs_, while those which take place after that day
are termed _mops_. Query, What is the derivation of this word? I have
been told that the later assemblies are so called because they consist
of the inferior servants who were not engaged before,--such as use a
_mop_ instead of sweeping clean and scouring. A friend conjectures that
the name implies "an indiscriminate _mopping-up_ of all sorts, the
greater number of servants having gone before, and there being only a
few left." I have no book to which I can refer for information on this
subject.