66 



MAY 



Butts, and when we had passed the turnstile a won- 

 derful sight was ours. One end of the field had 

 been made into a bower, and a part of it screened 

 off by fences of green boughs into retiring rooms 

 for the actors. In the bower the play was to be 

 acted, while we of the outside public sat on the turf 



THE CONSEQUENCES WERE OBVIOUS 



and looked and listened. But surely something was 

 amiss. The Vicar hurried to and fro, darting from 

 one screened enclosure to another, and ribald sounds 

 went up behind the scenes. 



I never knew until afterwards what was wrong, 

 and why the play came to an end or ever it had 

 begun. It appears that although every maid in the 

 village had been willing and eager to act a part, it 



