Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-05-07

Is not this the merry month OF May,
When lone lads masken in fresh array,
Youths folks now hGcken in every where,
To gather May-hsssets, and smelling breeze,
But we here sitten d;ownel in a dream
SrENsER.
The ancient custom Of observing the Cdiends
or first day of May, commonly called May
pay, is yet extensively pursued, not only IN
England aud many OF the older countries, ou'
has been perpeiuated in some paris ot the u
nited States. Among the ancients, the last
four DAYS of A pri, and the first OF Nav, were
observed in honor of the goddess Flora, The
imaginary deity II fruits and flowers In Eng,
land in DAYS Oh you, 1t was The custom, ioF !he
youth Of both sexes, to rise before lhe n's'
blush Of morning, aud HE away 10 some neigh
boring forest, accompanied with music, to
break down branches of trees, and adorn Them
with nose gays and garland5 Of flowers With
these the sportiye youths returned to their res
snec,iye homes before the rising OF the sun,
and decorated their doors and windows with
the Howery spoil The after part OF the day
WAS chiefly spent by the rosy checked lads and
lasses in dancing round he Maypole, erected a,
some con, enient spGt in the village, consecral-
ed 10 the goddess Of flowers, and LEFT standing
without violation lhro he circle OF the year.
The same custom and the same ceremonies
prevailed generally in Italy, where Polydore-
Virgil tells US shat the youth OF both sexes
we're accustomed 10 go into the Fields, on the
caIends Of May, and bring thence The branches
Of trees, singing oil the way as they came, and
$50 place them on the doors of their houses.
Many orthe poets have celebrated this iss'i-
val Of cheerfulness and hope in song; and II
would be no difficult matter 10 compile col
lumns Of interesting descriptions, in prose and
verse, Of ancient obserrances on these occa-
hat HerriCE
his "Corinna's going May,ug," has given
the following simple and beautiful account OF
,hem
"Get up sweet slug a-bed, and see,
Ill -
Zach flower has wept, and how'd towards the East,
Above an hour since;-it 10 in,
Nav, proclamation, 20 keep ~,
When as a thousand virgins on this day,
Spring sooner than the lark to fetch IN May;
Come, my Corinna, comes and coming, mark
How each 6eld turns street, each stIeet park
Made green, and trimmed with trees, see how
Devotion gives each house bough
Or branchi each porch, each door, ere this
An ark, a tabernacle is
Made up Of white thorn neatly Intervene.
There's not u budding boy, or girl, this day
But is got up, and gone to bring IN May,
\ deal of youth, ere this is come
Back, aud with white thorn laden, home
Somehaye dispatched their cakes and cream,
Before that we have left to dream;
And some have wept, and wood, and plighted troth,
And CHOSE their priest ere we can cast of slothi
Many green gown has been given;
Many kiss both odd and even;
Many glance, too has been sent
From out the eye, loves armament:
Many Jest told Of the keys hetraying
This night, and locks pickt, yet Were not Msying
But alas, our kind Knickerbocker ancestors
have bequearhcd US no such happy and spor-
tive Nav days in New-York! There is no such
thing here, as Stow tells us was once the case
in London, where every man, excepting i'm
pedimenl, would walk into the sweet meadows
and green woods, there TO rejoice their spirits
with the beauty and SAVIOR Of sweet flowers, *
With the harmony of birds praisiug God in
their kind" Poets may sing ill their throats
are sore of the day, and the season, "when the
genial sun Fl ON the lucid chambers Of the south
looks out and Smiles" and yet the plain unpo.
stica reality ofmovine anG being removed-ot
soap-suds and scrubbing brushes-must fore
yer be uppermost during the last week in April
and the frs, of what is every where else "the
merry month of May Instead ofinhaling an
atmosphere redorut of spring, we are compel
led 10 snuff the ndours Of paint pots and putty;
s instead Of listening to The sweetest carols Of
the feathered songst,rs Of creation, as they twit
ter from spray to spray, amid the fresh foliage
OF The scason,our ears are grated by the catter'
ing Of CARTS the hing of furniture, the crash
of crockery, the soothing Of lusiy household
wives, and the hoarse swearing of the carmen,
their vehicles clash against each other on
this day of misery and peril.
For on this blissful morning, old furniture
and new; cooking stoves, stew pans, china
bowls and wooden pla,ters, old boots and shoes;
novels, pamphlets and periodicals; tattered gar
ments for both sexes; shawls, hats, caps, wigs
and leather aprons; metals and mahogany of all
sorts, baskets OF cats, cages of parrots, cribs
for children; basins * ewers; andirons, broken
looking glasses, wicker baskets, dressing cases
& boxes, tnmbling out Of one door. and into ane>
Their, all heaped and mingled hurly -burly to.
ge,her, in the most frightfal state Of confusion
imaginable, meet the bewildered vision in eve-
nv street and at every corner. Nor does the
moving multitude endure all the troubles Of the
season. Houses must be cieansed and white
washed :rom garnet to cellar, and cornices
mended, walls painted, and thousand other
thing. done--and oil at May day-so that at