Polly (earnestly). Oh! don’t you think the clouds will blow over?
Ned. The whole sky will have to blow over. It’s all lead-color.
Polly (sighing). Oh, dear, dear, dear!
(Voices heard outside. Enter, with a rush, Caroline, Lucy, Anna, Kate, George, and Arthur, with baskets, tin pails, &c. The boys’ hats are trimmed with evergreen, the girls’ with wreaths and posies. The girls have baskets of flowers. Tommy leaves off playing with his marbles to watch the new-comers.)
George (throwing down a long coil of evergreen). Here we come!
Lucy (almost out of breath, and speaking fast). Yes, here we come, pell-mell! It’s going to pour!
Caroline (speaking just as Lucy finishes). Oh, how we have hurried! I felt a great drop fall on my nose.
Anna (speaking just as Caroline finishes). And think of our dresses!—span-clean white dresses!
Kate (speaking just as Anna finishes). No procession to-day!—no dancing around the May-pole!
(Arthur throws up his hat, and catches it. George does the same.)