dew, and bring home fresh boughs and flowers to deck the May-pole,
which reared its flowery crown in every village.

Great were the doings around the May-pole, for which the tallest and
straightest of trees was selected. It was drawn to its place by as many
as thirty or forty yoke of oxen, their horns decorated with flowers,
followed by all the lads and lassies of the village. The pole was wound
or painted with gay colors, and trimmed with garlands, bright
handkerchiefs, and ribbon streamers, from top to bottom.

With great ceremonies, and shouts of joy, it was lifted to its place by
ropes and pulleys, and set up firmly in the ground; and then the people
joined hands and danced around it. The whole day was given up to
merriment, every one dressed in holiday clothes, doors and windows were
adorned with green boughs and flowers, the bells rang, processions of
people in grotesque dresses were arranged, and the famous Morris
dancers performed.

In this dance the people assumed certain characters. There was always
Robin Hood, the great hero of the rustics; Maid Marian, the queen, with
gilt crown on her head; Friar Tuck; a fool, with his fool's-cap and
bells; and, above all, the hobby-horse. This animal was made of
pasteboard, painted a sort of pink color, and propelled by a man
inside, who made him perform various tricks not common to horses, such
as threading a needle and holding a ladle in his mouth for pennies.

The various characters labored to support their parts. The friar gave
solemn advice, the queen imitated lady-like manners, the fool joked and
made fun, and the horse pranced in true horsey style.

This Morris dance is supposed to have been brought in early times from
Spain, where the Moors danced it, and where it still survives as the
"fandango."

All this May-day merriment came to an end when our grim Puritan fathers
had power in England. Dancing around the May-pole looked to them like
heathen adoration of an idol. Parliament made a law against it, and all
the May-poles in the island were laid in the dust. The common people
had their turn, when, a few years later, under a new king, the
prohibitory law was repealed and a new May-pole, the highest ever in
England (one hundred and thirty-four feet), was set up in the Strand,
London, with great pomp. But the English people were fast outgrowing
the sport, and the customs have been dying out ever since. Now, a very
few May-poles in obscure villages are all that c