t • 
had their Maying, and right well did they 
deserve it, if any one did, and I think 
the looking forward to this good time must 
have cheered up an otherwise very dreary, 
dismal and melancholy life. And they 
did have a fine time, too. They had their 
dashy clothes, gaudy trimmings, flowers, 
flags, music and dances as well as those of 
the higher classes. They had a garland of 
flowers, some six feet high, and this gar¬ 
land actually danced; for there was a man 
concealed in it and you could see nothing 
of him except his two feet; and though the 
man himself could see the people, the peo¬ 
ple could not see him. I think he must 
have looked exceedingly funny, surrounded 
by the persons dressed to represent a fine 
lord and lady, and the merry, funny and 
frolicsome little sweeps, dancing and jump¬ 
ing. These performances lasted about three 
days, and the sweeps collected quite a nice 
little sum of money, which should have 
been their '‘very own” to keep; but it was 
not so; for some of their masters made 
them share with them, others took the 
whole of the first iwo day’s receipts and 
obliged their poor apprentices to put up 
with the scanty gleanings of the third day’s 
performance. Mechanical inventions have 
superseded the climbing boy’s occupation, 
and it is a good thing that such is the case; 
a few days of pleasure scarcely repaid them 
for a year of hard work. 
May Day had its superstitions, customs 
and ceremonies, as the following little par¬ 
agraph will show. 
“On the first of May, people go into the 
fields and bathe their faces with the dew 
on the grass, under the idea that it will 
render them beautiful.” 
On Ascension Day, it was the custom to 
decorate the wells with garlands and flow¬ 
ers; and I think the reason was, that life 
was so dependent on water, and wells were 
about the only source from which it could 
be readily obtained, the people almost came 
to look on these wells as though they were 
endowed with human feelings, and as some 
of the truest and most faithful friends they 
could find; and, to know them, they often 
bestowed the name of some favorite saint 
upon the same, and this was not thought 
anything of, because, as you are aware, 
there are many mentions of wells in the 
Scriptures. U A fountain is an emblem of 
purity and benevolence. From the day 
when the patriarchs journeyed in the 
wilderness, down to the present period— 
whether bursting from the arid sands of 
the African desert, or swelling out its geni¬ 
al waters amid the Greenland snows—itsv 
soft melody, its refreshing virtues, and its 
transparency have ever been the subject of 
delight and interest to the human race. 
Who could have listened to the song of 
Israel with indifference, when her princes 
had digged the well, and her nobles and 
law-giver stood around it?” A service was 
first given at the church where a sermon, 
was preached—no doubt, applicable to ther 
subject—and then the procession marched 
to all the wells in the vicinity. The psalms,, 
gospel and epistle of the day were read 
before each well, which had been previous¬ 
ly decorated, then back to church again 
where a hymn was sung, and the remain¬ 
der of the day was given over to harmless- 
pastimes and merry sports. “Open house’ 5 ' 
was kept all day, and friends visited each 
other; and, of course, this interchange of 
visits was a most pleasurable one. 
Among the old customs of Wliit-Monday 
was one that the men thought profitable, as, 
well as pleasurable; for, on that day, they* 
were allowed to cut down and carry away 
as much timber as could be drawn by men’s- 
hands into the abbey yard, the church 
wardens previously marking out such tim¬ 
ber by giving the first chop, so much as 
they could carry out again, notwithstand¬ 
ing the opposition of the servants of the* 
abbey to prevent it. they were to keep for 
the reparation of the church. For the* 
feminine portion of the community, we 
find the following: “The custom is to pro¬ 
vide a fat, live lamb; and the maids of the 
town, having their thumbs tied behind 
them, run after it, and she that with her 
mouth takes and holds the animal, is de¬ 
clared ‘Lady of the Lamb,’ which, being 
dressed with the skin hanging on, is carried 
on a long pole before the lady and her com¬ 
panions to the green, attended with music 
and a marisco dance by the men, and 
another by the women, where the rest of 
the day is passed in dancing, mirth and 
