This carol they began that hour,

With a hey and a ho, and a hey nonino, How that a life was but a flower In spring-time, the only pretty ring-time, When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding: Sweet lovers love the spring.

And, therefore, take the present time,

With a hey and a ho, and a hey nonino, For love is crowned with the prime In spring-time, the only pretty ring-time, When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding: Sweet lovers love the spring.

WILLIAM SHAKSPERE.

IN a body meet a body
Comin' through the rye,

Gin a body kiss a body,

Need a body cry?

Every lassie has her laddie,

Ne'er a ane hae I,

Yet a' the lads they smile at me
When comin' through the rye.
Amang the train there is a swain

I dearly lo'e mysel',

But whaur his hame or what his name, I dinna care to tell.

JOHN ALDEN AND PRISCILLA.

(From The Courtship of Miles Standish."')

O he entered the house; and the hum of the wheel and the singing Suddenly ceased; for Priscilla, aroused by his step on the threshold,

Rose as he entered, and gave him her hand, in signal of welcome,

Saying, "I knew it was you, when I heard your step in the passage;

For I was thinking of you, as I sat there singing and spinning." Awkward and dumb with delight, that a thought of him had been mingled

Thus in the sacred psalm, that came from the heart of the maiden,

Silent before her he stood, and gave her the flowers for an answer.

Then they sat down and talked of the birds and the beautiful spring-time,

Talked of their friends at home, and the Mayflower that sailed on the morrow.

“I have been thinking all day," said gently

the Puritan maiden, “Dreaming all night, and thinking all day, of the hedge-rows of England; They are in blossom now, and the country is all like a garden;

Thinking of lanes and fields, and the song of the lark and the linnet;

Seeing the village street, and familiar faces of neighbors

Going about as of old, and stopping to gossip together;

And, at the end of the street, the village church with the ivy

Climbing the old gray tower, and the quiet graves in the churchyard.

Kind are the people I live with, and dear to

me my religion;

Still my heart is so sad, that I wish myself back in old England.

You will say it is wrong, but I cannot help it; I almost

Wish myself back in Old England, I feel so

lonely and wretched.

Thereupon answered the youth: "Indeed, I

do not condemn you;

So I have come to you now, with an offer and proffer of marriage

Made by a good man and true, Miles Standish, the Captain of Plymouth."

Thus he delivered his message; the dexterous writer of letters,

Did not embellish the theme, or array it in beautiful phrases,

But came straight to the point, and blurted it out like a school-boy;

Even the Captain himself could hardly have said it more bluntly.

Mute with amazement and sorrow, Priscilla, the Puritan maiden,

Looked into Alden's face, her eyes dilated with wonder,

Feeling his words like a blow, that stunned her and rendered her speechless;

Till at length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence,

"If the great Captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me,

Why does he not come himself, and take the trouble to woo me?

If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not

worth the winning."

There nips the briar, here the lover's pansy,

stronger to lean on;

This on her arms, and that she lists to wear