For loan oft loses both itself and friend; Shakespere. THE MAY QUEEN. PART FIRST. By permission of Messrs. Strahan & Co.) You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear; To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New year, Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest, merriest day; For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. There's many a black, black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine; There's Margaret and Mary, there's Kate and Caroline : I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake, gay, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. As I came up the valley whom think ye I should see But I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. He thought I was a ghost, mother, for I was all in white, And I ran by him without speaking, like a flash of light. They call me cruel-hearted, but I care not what they say, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. They say he's dying all for love, but that can never be ; They say his heart is breaking, mother-what is that to me? There's many a bolder lad 'ill woo me any summer day, And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green, And you'll be there too, mother, to see me made the Queen; For the shepherd lads on every side 'ill come from far away, And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. The honeysuckle round the porch has wov'n its wavy bowers, And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint, sweet cuckoo flowers; And the wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray; And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadowgrass, And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass: There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong day; And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. All the valley, mother, 'ill be fresh and green, and still, And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill; And the rivulet in the flowery dale 'ill merrily glance and play; For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. So you must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear, To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New year; To-morrow 'ill be of all the year the maddest, merriest day, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May. Tennyson. SOLITUDE. TO SIT on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell, Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. But 'midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men, To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess, And roam along, the world's tir'd denizen, With none who bless us, none whom we can bless WATER. Byron. By permission of the Proprietors of Mr. Anderton's Poems.) Here's a bumper! drink it up! Tempt no more, 'tis labour vain— Stimulants exhaust the frame; Fount! whose droppings did suffice Henry Anderton. RINGING OUT THE YEAR. (By permission of Messrs. Strahan & Co.) RING out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring happy bells across the snow; The year is going-let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly-dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring out the want, the care, the sin, But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. A. Tennyson. |