Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-06-01
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JUSTIN HrrCHRTrn
81 Copyright, 1893, by
cu &$Zu, NJ lin the Author,l
Copyright, 1893, by
the Author,l

JUSTIN Hn'CHRTn
! !
81 Copyright. 1893. by
| MT ASZr, M I'm the Author,
EN V{kl a WAS in a very
| n Ell "a i'll humor. With
~ " HEIi my morning
| RG q post had come
AHaE An t,l amongst others
-z7sTs|T MIf Hit one particular
MYfF4EN catalogue the
VII catalogue of a
very famous bookseller-and it con-
tanned in its list a great many items
that particularly wished to have. But
| when ! had marked them off with my
pencil, and finally went over them and
added up their total, I was annoyed at
the sum they represented. felt that I
could not afford them, that I ought not
to afford them, and in consequence
felt horribly ill-used, and that the
world was bad world, which suffered
SO many millionaires to exist while I,
the student of languages, the lover of
linguistics, could not afford to buy the
few miserable books which So ardent
1y longed fo-.
AS I sat in this sullen mood heard a
great noise and shouting and the sound
OF clashing instruments rising from the
street. On looking out perceived the
cause of the unwonted tumult Oppo-
site to my quiet lodgings there is a
large stable-yard, which is cut off from
the road by high yellow wall, pierced
in the center by lofty, Roman-look-
ing, red arch, which towers above the
wall and affords the only entrance into
| -
undisturbed domain of grooms and
ostlers, of horses and hay carts, was
now in possession of motley and garish
crowd. 1t was crowd of May mum
ners, pranked out in clean splendor
and busily occupied in making those
noises which had first attracted my at
tention. / remembered that it was the
6rst of May, and began to feel the in
5erest that student of Folklore al
ways feels in any survival of old-time
customs. The girls, who were in the
majority in the little band, glittered in
She cheap fnery of pink and blue print
dresses. All the members Of the merry
fellowship bore on their heads gaudy
wreaths of paper flowers with many
colOred StreamerS, and in their hands
they brandished Gathering tam bourines
Or fourished painted striped sticks,
which they ratified against the ground,
and so swelled the din. They were
shouting and rushing about the court
IS if possessed of some midsummer mad
ness, and their movements lent an I'M
usually gay air to the somewhat somber
courtyard.
Round the archway fringe of duly
clad humanity had halted-passers-b
poStmen, loafers of many kinds. From
windows round about servants thrust
out their capped heads, and doors open
ing in all directions off the yard dis
closed the stablemen smiling in good
humored amazement upon the mer-
rymakers. In little while the rev.
| e1ers whirled out into the street,
shouting and shaking their sticks and
tambourlnes, their streamers floating
and their childish voices shrilling loud
in glee. The gaping knot of idlers hud-
aled together and moved slowly after
them, gazing with a surprise which had
in it something of the true town mock
cry for anything odd and bright and
pleasant. Yet, it seemed to me, look
ing down from my window, there was
something almost like awe, too, in the
minds of those hangers-on at the fam
tastic gladsomeness of the little crea-
lures.
| decided, as 1 watched, that there
was something pleasingly Pagan about
the whole scene. It was like some old
Roman rustic festival thrust suddenly
into the gloom of London street. It
might almost be some procession of
lads and lasses singing and dancing for
very lightness of heart in honor of Ceres
or Pales, or the god of the gardens. Sure
ly these fower-bound dancers are about
70 welcome the Kalends OF May with
cracking sulphur and salt, and flour
sprinkled upon the altar fame of the
Lares, and to burn laurels before the
little statues of the gods.
OF course L knew well enough, though
it pleased me to indulge in these
learned reflections, that the troop were
but some poor children of the neigh
borhood, who had crept out of small
houses in small streets to shine for a
| season in coats of many colors. They
had put on their paper crowns in ODE
| dience to an almost forgotten custom,
not without hope of picking up few
pennies from the benevolent. Yet,
for the life of me, could not shake off
the fancy that they were thus skipping
and shouting and footing it in the serv-
ice of Flora, the fairest companion of
the painted seasons.
1 was rapidly brought back to reali-
| ties. A solemn gentleman, arrayed
with that elaborate discomfort in which
British respecta bility delights, entered
the street and shattered my Roman
vision. One diminutive damsel of the
| band separated herself from the rest
and ran along by his side, holding out
| her taIhbourine and soliciting gift.
The man was untouched by the appeal.
He was afraid perhaps that he would
look ridiculous if he suffered himself to
be led into any dealings with the oddly
| clad votaries OF foreign gods. So he
hurried away from the Haunting folly.
Perhaps he was right, after all,
thought, as the man of to-day turned
the corner. Perhaps there would have
been something inappropriate in pre-
| senting an English sixpence to so
Ovidian a maiden. Only some such
| small coin as the Romans gave for
| good luck with the first flush of the
new Year could rightly have contented
her-some coin perhaps with double
| headed Janus on the one side and the
| shin of Scythe-bearin0 Saturn ON the