Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-05-10

Green leaf and rosy blossom and
sunny, warm weather and singing and
loving ali come back together. Yes,
song is the natural language of the
merry month, whether heard In the
murmuring lisp of leaves or in the
ripple of the brook as it hurries down
the valley; in the notes of bright
winged singers sounding sweetly
through the new-decked forest; or
felt in the inarticulate paean with
which the hesrt of child and man re-
joices, as in the beauty of a new
heaven and new earth.
In the earliest springtime we are
most interested in the magical uplift
OF plant life, the opening bud, the
young leaf that pushes up through
the rich, black soil, striving ever to-
ward the light. But in May it is the
bird world that calls to us from afar,
and animate nature takes possession
of the waiting world, all swept and
garnished for its coming. The flow
ers of May are very simple In struc-
ture, and, for the most part, odorless
and without vivid colors. The flies
and insects are not ye! well awake
after their winter chill, but in the
bird world all is excitement and
activity.
One of the most wonderful things
in the natural world is that these
spring travellers know so exactly
when to come to their nesting places.
Before the end of April the harder
ones, owls, hawks, crows, kildeers,
woodpeckers, bluebirds, doves, robins,
song sparrows and red-wings are al
ready ON their nests. The first of
May they come in flocks, a host of
welcome friends--vireos, thrushes.
wrens, catbirds and others, more than
can be named-in fact, the last of the
long procession are well on their
northward way and the whole coun
| try is echoing with music, and
like the heavenly city, conjubilant
with song.
/ The month of May has always been
dedicated to melody and merrymak
ing. In ancient Greece It was hon
ored as the birthplace of Apollo, the
sun god, and, later on, of Flora and
Maia and others of the tuneful sisters.
Poets of all ages and countries nave
claimed this month for their own
particular favorite. Small wonder is
THAT the feeling which spring inn
parts to the growing world should ex-
press itself in special verses, rites
and ceremonials. In folklore and
tradition the songs of May come ring
ing down the corridors Of time, and
would astonish the curious student.
Nature Worship.
These May-day carols and morris
songs really represent sort of I'M
mixed up with faiths and fancies of
those earlier days. No note Of
eternal passion mixed with eternal
pain is heard in these morning carols
of birds and bards. They are usual
ly a mere overflow of unreasoning joy.
! To realize that the singers are alive
and happy and have found the earth
so fair and their sunrise service is
/ the involuntary expression of pure
and unrestrained delight. Then, too,
they include the frolicsome revels of
a simpler age, the rustic merrymak-
! ing of the old world May day celebra-
lions. The verses and melodies of
these quaint old songs divide them
selves into carols proper, morris or
dance carols (Which were rarely sep
arated from the games and festivities
of spring. and musicians carols,
which. though widely differing from
the others, were still tributes to the
vernal season, and used at the
masques and pageants of the court.
In the times of Henry VIII, May
day celebrations were the fashion all
over Merry England, and in his reign
and in that of Elizabeth the merry
making was not confined to the lower
classes. but the special Joy OF lords
and ladies. Great and wonderful
were the Maylings of the Tudor times,
and in keeping with the rude strength
of the people. One OF the quaint
chronicles of the day tells how Henry
and his queen went "a-Maying" on
Shooters hill Drawn up one after
the other for royal inspection came
the representatives of spring. On
the first courser safe Humiditie, on
the second rode Ladye Vert, on the
third safe Ladye Vegetable, on the
fourth safe Ladye Pleasaunce, on the
fifth safe the Ladye of the Maye, &C
companied by Ladye Flora, richly ap-
lparrelled. They saluted the king with
songs ard carols, and SO brought them
to Greenwich, where
Nights were short
And days we're long,
And blossoms on the hawthorne hung"
II was for such proud revelries as
these that great musicians composed
the carols and Mosques that have
come down to us today From these
we find that when England was
merry England still' 1t was the GUS
tom for young and old to go out on