THE HAWTHORN 
137 
longer daily witnesses of the beauties of nature, this love 
seems exhausted or forgotten. Yet the small but carefully 
tended plot of garden-ground, in the midst of the town, 
where the lilac and laburnum seem stunted for want of 
free air, and where the white flowers are clouded, while 
the London-pride and persicaria seem to bid defiance to 
the smoke; or the myrtles, and geraniums, and migno- 
nette, which smile over some of the dingiest avenues of 
the city, attest that the love of nature still lingers, though 
not a green field is in sight, and little can be seen of the 
blue sky. 
“ Ev’n in the stifling bosom of the town 
A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms 
That soothe the rich possessor; much consoled 
That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint, 
Of nightshade, or valerian, grace the spot 
He cultivates. These serve him with a hint 
That nature lives; that sight-refreshing green 
Is still the livery she delights to wear. 
Though sickly samples of th’ exuberant whole.’’ 
it is May, the smiling, cheerful May ! Our fathers did 
well to greet its coming with flowers. Rare indeed are 
now these pleasing welcomings ; though yet the May-bough 
is hung over some houses in Hertfordshire, and the May- 
pole lingers still on the village green of Wales. The re- 
mains of the old practices are, however, in m.ost places, 
confined to the small chaplet of cowslips and blue-bells, 
which are borne by little timid country girls, or rosy 
urchins, whose young voices salute us with “ Please to 
remember the May morning.’’ The hawthorn, or May, 
seldom mingles its blossoms with the other wild flowers 
of the garland. Our May-day, according to the new style, 
being by so many days earlier than that of our forefathers, 
the May is not in full flower, except when the spring is 
unusually forward; and many a lament used to be uttered 
some years since by old dames in villages, that philosophy 
should have ever interfered with the seasons of the year, 
and brought the May-day before its time. 
In a few rural spots of our country, a May-day queen 
is chosen and crowned with flowers, and the day kept as 
