Berkshire.
At Abingdon the children and young people formerly went about in groups on May morning, singing the following carol:—
“We’ve been a-rambling all the night,
And sometime of this day;
And now returning back again,
We bring a garland gay.
Why don’t you do as we have done
On this first day of May?
And from our parents we have come,
And would no longer stay.
A garland gay we bring you here,
And at your door we stand;
It is a sprout well budded out,
The work of our Lord’s hand.
Why don’t you do, &c.
So dear, so dear as Christ loved us,
And for our sins was slain;
Christ bids us turn from wickedness
Back to the Lord again.
Why don’t you do,” &c.—
N. & Q. 4th S. vol. iii. p. 401.