The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-01
.NIHy-Day.

To the May bowers;
Behold the grass is pranckt with daisies,
The banks with flowers
| The Gun il finging on waters glancine
His.early light;
The birds are singing, and branches dane
ing,
At the glad sight.
Come, let us rush in the maze OF boughs,
ana meet at the May-pole to dance and
He He, 'assisS. assssf +; Jack in the Green,
f. our ess.6e9aes and Gravisies.
To-da is My aay, a day which,
though it no longer comes wreathed
with the smiles it wore in the days of
romance, is still Welcomed, and in
some places celebrated, by tho young
OF all classes, with delight. 1t has
become the fashion with many, in
these days of transcendant sapience,
to heap ridicule and scorn ON the in
nocent and fanciful customs Of the
Good Old Times;'' bnt, without
being blind admirers of the rough
and boisterous sports of antiquity,
we cannot help regretting that the
festivities which once hailed the
opening of this month, and which
served at least to diversity the still
life of existence with an occasional
glimpse of the picturesque, have sunk
into neglect. The games of May day
were the most delightful and joyous
OF oil the ancient pastimes. 1t was
no holiday dependent ON the rubric,
OF the musty fables of monks or
saints; it is q jubilee of natures own
appointing, when the earth, dressing
herself up in flowers and green gar
lands, calls aloud to her children to
come ont into the fields, and partici-
pate in all her merry-making. The
sports of the day were formerly shared
by all ranks Of people; and an early
writer informs us that Henry VIII
and his beauteous queen used to rise
with the sun of May morning, to par
take of AIay-day sports, and after
wards diverted themselves with shoot
ing birds in the woods, and in rustic
festivity consumed the evening.
Shakespeare says it was impossible to
make the people sleep on Alay-eve,
and that they rose early to observe
the rite of May.
Stubbs, in his defamation against
1aie, tells us that 'every parishe
towne and village assemble themselves
together, both men, women and chill
dren, old and young, even all indif-
ferently; and, either going altogether
or dividying themselves into compa-
MES, the goe some to the woodes
and groves, some to the hills and
mountains, some to one place, and
some to another, where the spend all
the night i'll pastymes. Yet we must
not allow his invective as unexcep-
tionable evidence of the mildness of
the weather which could allow of any
such cool and airy revels. He has
evidently overcharged his picture,
Notwithstanding his boast of the
credible reports" he had received
from "men of create gravitic, credite
and reputation"
In London, the May game pageants
were supported with great spirit; the
citizens used to sally out in the morn
ing q Maying, and return with the
spoils Of the fields and woods, accom-
panied with archers. morris dancers,
and other shows. Every parish used
to have its May pole, though some
times two parishes joined in the cele-
bration; and we are told that once
pole was erected in the middle of the
street, before the church Of ''St. An
drew Undershaft, of such height
that it tovertopped the steeple A lord
and lady Of the May We're chosen to
preside over the sports.
"The May-pole is up,
Now, give me the cup,
I'll drink to the garlands around il,
But first unto those
F.! Whose hands did compose
The glory of flowers that crown'd it ;"
One can readily imagine, says
Irving, what gay scene it must have