Year: 1876

rest, comes just before the hustle and tur-
mol OF the First of May, that men and
women may repose their souls in quietness,
some to return thanks that their Lares and
Penates are to remain where they have been
domiciled for the year past, others to prepare
themselves for putting of the old and taking
on the new quarters. There has always been
a certain excitation about the First Of May
which, varying according to individual cir
cumstances and climatic Influences, stirs up
the emotions. It is moving time Of year.
1t is hard for city-folk to enter enthusiastic
ally into the rustic enjoyments of the
season, which are for the most part tradi-
tional in q crowded community and q winter
climate. The only suggestion Of the May
pole is the rod which the ruthless auctioneer
plants at an angle of Is degrees, with asoiled
red streamer at the end of it. The only
dance is that Of the hilarious carman on the
top of your piano or favorite sideboard, in
anticipation of the shekels he expects to
extract from you for the annual privilege Of
breaking your furniture. The only Queen of
the May is she who traces her ancestry back
to the days CT BRIAN Bonu. With soap-suds
ready mixed and scrub-brnsh at the side of
her bed, she will lie down tonight to sweet
visions Of Sapolio and broken window-panes,
gently murmuring:


You must wake and call mo early call early mother
Tomorrow II bo the happieat time Of Ill the glad


ye1r;


OF all the glad new gear, mother, the maddest, mer


riest day,


For I'm to he Queen o the May, nothar, I'm to be


Queen O. the May.


In point Of fact, May in the city has
good many advantages over 11ay-day in the
country. Though the clouds do not she'd as
many May flowers when Jupiter smiles on
Juno, the city people have the best Of it when
there happens to be, as there usually is fall
of rain instead Of ashower Of posies. There is
something in rain-storm entirely in keep
ing with the humor of the moving masses,
especially if it rains cats and dogs. In fact,
most people 10 confidently anticipate rain
storm that they are disappointed if it doesn't
come. They will probably not be disap-
as they watch the muddy boots Of the e1-
pressmen leave their. marks on the newly
secured floors, and as they contemplate their
bedraggled carpets and limp curtains de-
posted in huge and ungainly mass. There
will be q rare opportunity for practicing in
for,ib1e English, and those who have favorite
oaths may prepare to swear them now. Some
consolation may be found, nevertheless,
in the reflection that even this celebration of
the First of May is preferable to dawdling On
the wet grass and taking cold in thin shoes
and white muslins under the delusion that
spring-time has come.


The people who move may still find ad-
vantages over those who do not. To begin
WITH, they usually do not own houses, and
have no taxes to pay. They enjoy oil the
advantages which tenants have over land
lords. They are not especially troubled when
the children Whittle at the stair -bannisters or
display their ear1y artistic talent on the white
walls. They escape the trials Of an account
for repairs, and can bully the landlords to
their hearts content. It is Just possible, il
they are experienced tenants, that they can
avoid the payment of the last months rent in
the house they have abandoned, and can get
an allowance OF the first months rent in the
new house for. putting it in order. There is
a certain pleasure in the exercise Of that al
most superhuman ingenuity which is required
to make old carpets fit new house of an en-
tirely different size, and to evolve order out
Of the chaotic condition which the ruthless
snasher Of furniture leaves when he de-
mands his money. There is also an admira-
BILE opportunity for the exercise of the
christianity virtue Of patience in dealing with
the plumbers and gas-ftters. In addition to
all this, an excellent excuse is furnished to
the patcrj jamilias to stay downtown to din
ner, in order that he may not inflict unneces-
sary work upon the mater;tamatas, and this
in turn gives the ma&er; ;tamilas the welcome
occasion for giving the pater: :tamihas the
usual curtain-lecture.


The people who do not move generally en-
joy this merry month of May by cleaning
house. Then they wish they had moved, and
left the annual accumulation for their sue
cessor to dispose Of. If there is more cheer
full way Of celebrating than moving, it is by
house-cleaning. That degree of discomfort
is reached which makes it simply exquisite
and ecstatic. 4 mental and moral condition
Is superinduced which renders all other sea-
sons of the year tame by comparison. Not
evan the enlargement Of ths head consequent