“Finally,—now pains-and-pleasure-taking citizens hire cozey cottages for six weeks certain in the Curtain-road, and ask their friends to come and see them ‘in the country.’”
The Feast of Cherries.
There is a feast celebrated at Hamburg, called the “feast of cherries,” in which troops of children parade the streets with green boughs, ornamented with cherries, to commemorate a victory, obtained in the following manner:—In 1432, the Hussites threatened the city of Hamburg with an immediate destruction, when one of the citizens, named Wolf, proposed that all the children in the city, from seven to fourteen years of age, should be clad in mourning, and sent as supplicants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites, was so touched with this spectacle, that he received the young supplicants, regaled them with cherries and other fruits, and promised them to spare the city.
The children returned crowned with leaves, holding cherries, and crying “victory!”—and hence, the “feast of cherries” is an annual commemoration of humane feelings.[276]
To the Gnat.
For the Every-Day Book.
Native of Ponds! I scarce could deem
Thee worthy of my praise,
Wert thou not joyous in the beam
Of summer’s closing days.
But who can watch thy happy bands
Dance o’er the golden wave,
And be not drawn to fancy’s lands,—
And not their pleasures crave?