And then, like fai-ries, in a ring,
  A-round it we will dance or play,
And all our glad-dest songs will sing
  Upon this mer-ry First of May.

And dear-est Maud shall there be seen
  With crown of haw-thorn blos-soms gay,
And she shall be our lit-tle queen,
  Upon this mer-ry First of May.

UNI-VER-SAL PRAISE.

See how na-ture now re-joices
  In this sun-ny month of May;
Still to God from all its voices
  Giv-ing prais-es day by day. 
In the glad green wood-land al-leys
  Ev-e-ry bird its an-them trills! 
While flocks feed-ing in the val-leys,
  Herds up-on a thou-sand hills,
Join with ev-ery crea-ture liv-ing,
  Here on land, in air, or sea,
In one great world-wide thanks-giv-ing,
  Yield-ing praise, O God, to Thee! 
All a-round us swells the cho-rus
  From this good-ly world of ours,
And earth’s al-tar stands be-fore us
  Sweet with in-cense from her flow-ers. 
So, with Na-ture still con-fess-ing
  His great good-ness, let us pay
Grate-ful hom-age for each bless-ing
  Of this sun-ny month of May.

[Illustration]

[Illustration:  Lost labour.]

[Illustration:  The sa-cred I-bis, we are told, The E-gyp-tians much re-vered of old]

[Illustration:  The I-gua-na’s flesh is sweet and good; It haunts the riv-er and the wood.]

[Illustration:  On hin-der legs and tail so strong, The slim Jer-boa bounds a-long.]

[Illustration:  A row of prick-les, long and keen, On the John-Do-ry’s back is seen.]

[Illustration:  Washing my children.]

[Illustration:  Taking care of baby]

[Illustration]

THE DAN-DE-LION CLOCK.

The dan-de-lion blos-soms gay
From the fields have passed away,
And in their place left heads of grey. 
Now, Min-nie, won’t it be good fun
For each of us to ga-ther one,
And sit and blow them in the sun? 
Very hard we both must blow,
And scat-ter all the seeds like snow,
That will be ‘one o’clock,’ you know.”

TAK-ING CARE OF BA-BY.

Lit-tle, help-less ba-by dear,
  While with-in your cot you lie,
Sis-ter May is sit-ting near—­
  She will sing your lul-la-by.

When at last you fall a-sleep,
  Not the slight-est noise she’ll make;
Quiet as a mouse she’ll keep,
  Lest she should her dar-ling wake.

May will watch you well, for though
  She can play and prat-tle too,
’Tis not very long ago
  Since she was a babe like you.

Then mam-ma o’er lit-tle May
  Day and night her watch would keep;
May her care can now re-pay,
  Watch-ing ba-by whilst a-sleep.

SUM-MER FLOW-ERS.