MY MAY-QUEEN
(Ætat 4).
Come, child, that I may make
A primrose wreath to crown thee Queen of Spring!
Of thee the glad birds sing;
For thee small flowers fling
Their lives abroad; for thee—for Dorothea's sake!
Hasten! For I must pay
Due homage to thee, have thy Royal kiss,
Our thrush shall sing of this;
—In many a bout of bliss
Tell how I crown'd thee Queen, Spring's Queen, this glad May-day.
John Jervis Beresford, M.A.
SWEET NANCY.
Shenton was a dull and sleepy village at the best of times; but then it was situated so far from any town. Exboro' was the nearest, and that was ten miles away. To reach it you must traverse a range of pine-clad hills, descending now and again into cool valleys, full of sweet scents and sounds in summer, but dreary enough in winter, when the snow lay thick and the wind whistled through the leafless branches.
Shenton consisted of one long street, terminating in a green on which the church and school-house stood. After that there were no more houses till you reached Exboro', excepting a few scattered farms a mile or two away at Braley Brook. There was also a large farm, known as the Manor, half-a-mile in the opposite direction, occupied by one Jacob Hurst, who was the owner of the farms at Braley Brook.