THE GIRL'S CABINET,

THE MAY QUEEN.

It is May morning. May is the most beautiful of all months. Then it is, that all nature seems to awaken from its winter slumbers. The grass springs up, the little birds sing and chirp, and display their beautiful plumage. The trees shoot forth their buds, the fruitful covering of future foliage. We no longer greet each other in the warmed room, but, "Good morning," is sweetly spoken from the open window, or among the bushes of the garden. We hunt flowers and climb hills, and thus exercise both the body and the mind. In many parts of Europe, on the first of May, all the juveniles of both sexes, walk to a neighboring wood, and breaking limbs off trees, adorn them with ribbons and crowns of flowers. They are accompanied by a band of music and the blowing of horns. They then return to their homes and make their houses triumphant in the flowery spoils. In the afternoon, a May pole is erected in the centre of the village. The pole is consecrated to the goddess of flowers, and is profusely adorned with them. It remains standing all the year.

The young girls then select by lot, one of their number to be crowned as May Queen. She is crowned with a beautiful wreath of flowers and presides for the rest of the day over the amusements of her subjects. In the picture you see the Queen.