The evening world., 1888-04-30

IAA I'LL Ill VI hHnnH An lava chair
-.rv,r,~ ", ~ =. n,-~-
.aNthr. ~ races IN. Ihese
h~.E@N NV thought-pictures that
rise before the minds eve are full of CAV
=. - I..u;c, .o;,ut o-.h =. -
groups OF laos ana iassies gong ior.n az suh-
rise to fetch home great armfuls OF the dewy,
fresh, white fragrance of the may" as
tbev co,Ied tho bau,tborr blooms
With this sweet.smelling harvest they
decked every matched cottage, every door
WAY and window place in the village before
tha, mn. on tho;r ho,;aau hrororu 4, donoo
%H pu. Mnu y ia'i u"n'o
about the Maypole on the green
Among the cavalcades of village folk were
sure alao IN he aome KNIGHTS and ladies-ner-
suie . " Do 1o.lo hnisn's "nu iaoieS-pef-
maps even royalty ITSELF was ABROAD In the
sweet spring morning, for does not Godfrey
Chaucer tell in his Court of Love- how on
Nav Dav ~" VII
Form y Gosth al tue Court both most and least
10 ietch no"ers iresn.
And it is not a matter of record how the
heads of corporations in London used to
sally forth bent on this gentle errand and be-
take themselves to the high grounds of Kent
to gather " may" While the chronicles of
the time relate how that mucb-married sover-
eign, King Henry VIII, and Katherine of
Arragon, returning early from Greenwich,
encountered q troop Of these dignitaries
"Mayins on Shooters Hill,
~ = pbNhl hCl
in the light of carnal amusements which
must be renounced. So they put q stop to
these rural rites. There was no more dan
cling in the yellow sunshine on the village
green. And the tall Maypoles, which had
been brought from the woods with such in
nocent rejoicings and had been set up in
their places with such jollity of great and
small, were cast down by order of the grim
moralists. But they couldn't abolish the
blossoms of Maytime. Prejudice didn't in
fluence the may blooms in the least. The
flowers unfurled their soft petals and flung
out their fragrance in precisely the old fash
out to gather branches by stealth.
At last the whirligig of Time brought back
the May Queen to her own again. and once
more all hearts were glad and festive on the
first morning of the month OF flowers.
In these latter days the old festival finds
meagre observance. In London the "black
n Minh aG III ommi~mpney.sweeP parade on
Green" Ia circular bower of foliage decked
with flowers, inclosing O man who bears the
whole structure along with him as he
marches), and besides such gala decorations
as are within the invention and means of tho
the dusky brotherhood, who are the last sus-
tainers of this ancient custom.
The May-Day idea of this latter nineteenth
century time is invested with furniture vans.
The bare date suggests moving. Those ami
versaries upon which people look back are
seen through q haze of dust from ripped-up
toiling with heavy tread over bare floors and
s%tairways. and an occasional o~ninous crash,
which means a piece knocked out of the
wall at some, sharp turn of the landing and
n dreadful blemish on the polished surface
of the piano or some other cherished object,
or else a crushed mirror shivers its awful
splinters of " bad luck" seven years ahead,
or a crate is tossed airily off the cart by SOM
brawny helper, and as 1t plunses down ON to
the pavement the owner realizes with an
agonized thrill that the best china has Just
been pulverized by this playful exhibition of
strength.
About this business of May migrating there
clusters n brood of superstitions of more OF
less antiquated origin.
last day of the week, and then, if one is com.
PEELED to take up his bed and other belong.
ings and walk into new quarters, some wise.
acre is sure to croak:
SATURDAY.. ,,,,,ro o.,,,. ,.,
' 's
And somehow this gives you q vague sense
of being only a bird of passage after all il
your ne" nome "here you've JUST taken pos
SESSION.
the last " load !" was about to be driven to he,
new abode; the mistress discovered two
nearly new oroohs that had Deen ieft behlnd
other ELECTS VA he
The cook sn;ed than, orpouan+;no +ba In,
of the cart and immediateiv heean he
lameptation ~
- Ihr S,ra ,tuon,+ bo love- hu.,
leayin, this place with SORROW The family,
moved a broom - '
From which IL apneared that to conve,
from one Mace of Residence 70 anotbor III;
useful utensil entailed according to Biddv,
belief particularly bad luck.
~ 10 al oto oupCtbtiIioh tudJ IL you bWbbl