England * * from side to side of her delightful isle 

 Ambrosial gardens." 



COWPER, 



MAY 



" CUNSHINE and air ! Bird-music and Spring ! " This 

 ^ line of the poet's is the true keynote of this enjoyable 

 month of the whole year. The sunshine seems so wonder- 

 fully bright, the air is so pure and sweet, and the birds vie 

 with each other in proclaiming the beauties of May. Per- 

 haps there are hardly sweeter lines to be found anywhere in 

 praise of May and of our simple English pastoral landscape 

 than those of Milton's song, " On May Morning" 



" Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, 

 Comes dancing from the east, and brings with her 

 The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws 

 The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 



Hail ! bounteous May, that doth inspire 



Mirth, and youth, and warm desire ; 



Woods and groves are of thy dressing, 



Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 

 Thus we salute thee with our early song, 

 And welcome thee and wish thee long." 



If May is not exactly the full time of flowers, it is 

 certainly the month of birds. Every writer praises them, 

 novelist and poet and thinker alike. Here is a graceful bird- 

 thought which Marie Corelli has written in one of her 

 charming books : " A shower of melody rains from the trees 

 on every side the pure, sweet, passionate tones pierce the ear 

 like the repeated chime of little golden bells the beautiful, 

 the tender, the God-inspired birds sing their love stories 

 simply and with perfect rapture love stories untainted by 

 hypocrisy, unsullied by crime different, ah ! so very differ- 



"5 



