Having procured a wren, the bird was placed in a little house of paper with glass windows, sometimes a cage or a lantern, or a box was used for that purpose, and often decorated with coloured ribbons, and “every young lady, and even old ladies, used to compete in presenting the grandest ribbon to the “wren.”
The cage or the lantern thus decorated with the little bird in it, was hoisted on four poles, one at each corner, and four men carried it about for the purpose of levying contributions, singing a long ballad or ditty such as follows on the following tune:—
“Where are you going? says Milder to Melder,
O where are you going? says the younger to the elder;
O I cannot tell says Festel to Fose;
We’re going to the woods said John the Red Nose.
We’re going to the woods said John the Red Nose.
“O what will you do there? says Milder to Melder,
O what will you do there? says the younger to the elder;