OLD HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS. 363 



stranger, the fatherless and the widow." This was 

 not simply declared once, as an act of mercy, but 

 enjoined and confirmed by ordinances thrice re- 

 peated, and impressed with particular solemnity : 

 " I am the Lord thy God," I have given thee all, 

 and I command unreserved obedience to this my 

 appointment. 



Revolving in our minds, as we old-mannered 

 people often do, the forms, rites, and usages of 

 earlier days, we occasionally regret that fashions 

 by gradual neglect have passed away, and can 

 never be revived, to give that feeling of pleasure 

 which a natural growth seemed to have inspired. 

 Some, though probably of pagan origin, were inno- 

 cent and harmless practices; the may-pole, with 

 all its flowery wreaths, so often surrounded by the 

 dance and the song, is now but seldom seen, where 

 we have known it, especially in the lacemaking 

 counties, the evening and almost sole recreation, 

 after long hours of unhealthy occupation, for happy 

 groups of 



" Those pale maids who weave their threads with bone ;'* 



and it gave these poor villagers a transient glow of 

 health, seen then alone ; but it is gone with the 

 rest, and we grieve to think how little remains that 

 poverty and innocence can partake of. Others 

 were of monkish introduction, yet seemed to keep 

 in remembrance the revolutions of seasons and 

 events, which, though recorded elsewhere, had 



