of the paper on which I wrote.-When business or pleasure led me from home, the food of my namesake was not forgotten: for sweeter to my ear his evening song of gratitude, Than the fam'd organ's hoarsely-swelling note, Come into my cabin, Red Robin; Thrice welcome, blithe warbler, to me; Partake o' my plain wholesome fare; Yet mine man or bird shall aye share. Now five years are by-gane, Red Robin, Awa' wi' anither she's gane; O where is thy sweetheart, Red Robin, TO THE FRINGILLA MELODIA-(Song Sparrow.) BY H. PICKERING. Joy fills the vale; With joy extatic quivers every wing, The violet Awakens at thy song, and peers from out While from the rock The columbine its crimsom bell suspends, Say! when the blast Of winter swept our whitened plains, what clime, What summer realm thou gladdest, and how was past Thy joyous time? Did the green isles Detain thee long? or, 'mid the palmy groves Oh! well I know Why thou art here thus soon, and why the bowers Thou art returned On a glad errand-to rebuild thy nest, And thy wild strain, Poured on the gale, is love's transporting voice, Nor calls alone T' enjoy, but bids improve the fleeting hour- The poet too It soft invokes to touch the trembling wire ; But thy sweet lay, Thou darling of the spring! no ear disdains; Oh! if I knew Like thee to sing, like thee the heart to fire, Oft as the year In gloom is wrapped, thy exile I shall mourn; Boston The Token. MAY. This month was called Maius by Romulus, in respect to the senators and nobles of his city, who were named majores; though some suppose it to have been derived from Maia, the mother of Mercury, the daughter of Atlas, and one of the Pleiades; to whom the Romans offered sacrifice on the first day. The Saxons called it Tri Milchi, from the rude but pastoral observations of the increase of milk from the springing grass. The Ancient Gauls made this month the season of great military adventures. Remarkable Days. 1.-MAY-DAY. There is something inexpressibly pleasing to the heart as well as the imagination, in the rural sports and country festivals of our ancestors. Whether it be that they are naturally congenial to our tastes, or from being associated with the recollection of our earliest youth, or because they are generally connected with some romantic vision of fairy landfrom the remoteness of their origin, or the patriarchal simplicity of their rites, there is a charm about them that is almost irresistible. Most of them were of pagan origin; but in the early ages of Christianity, they became connected with the rites of the church. This was the case with the festival of the new year long before the Christian Era. The old reformers inveighed bitterly against these holydays, but finding them too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people to be eradicated, they gave them the appearance of religious festivals. Shakspeare says, it was impossible, in England in his day, to make the people sleep on May-morning, and that they rose early to observe the rites of May. The milk-maids dressed themselves neatly on this day, and borrowing abundance of silver plate, of which they made a pyramid, which they adorned with ribands and flowers, carried it upon their heads instead of their common milk-pails. In this equipage, accompanied by some of their fellow milk-maids, and a bagpipe or fiddle, they went from door to door, dancing before the houses of their customers. In Italy this day is celebrated in an interesting manner. The children, wives and mothers of prisoners assemble before the windows of the prison, and join their unhappy relatives in songs of hope and freedom. They sympathise in the misery of the prisoners who cannot join them in their celebration of the day; and the scene usually ends with a repast, in which the prisoners have a share, as their relatives on that occasion are permitted to supply them with meat and wine. 1.-ST. JAMES THE LESS. St. James, the younger, or the less, was an apostle, the brother of Jude, and the son of Cleophus and Mary, the sister of the mother of Jesus. In the Scriptures he is called the Just, and the brother of Jesus, who appeared to him in particular after his resurrection. He was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, when Ananias II. high priest of the Jews, caused him to be condemned and delivered into the hands of the people and the Pharisees, who threw him down from the steps of the temple, when a fuller dashed out his brains with a club, about the year 62. His life was so holy, that Josephas considers the ruin of Jerusalem as a punishment inflicted on that city for his murder. He was the author of the epistle which bears his name. 1.-ST. PHILIP. An apostle of Jesus Christ, who when called to that mission was a fisherman of Bethsaida, a city of Galilee, on the Lake of Gennesareth. Some ecclesiastical historians relate that he was married and had several children, that he preached the gospel in Phrygia, and died at Hierapolis in that country. Others, however, state, that he suffered martyrdom at Hieropolis, in the year 52. Among the splendid erections in Regent-street, London, is an Episcopalian Chapel, dedicated to this Saint. 3.-INVENTION OF THE CROSS. This festival is in the English calendar, although it is only celebrated in the Romish church. It was instituted to commemorate the invention, or rather finding, the cross of Christ on this day, by St. Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; who employed many days in digging for it at Golgotha. 6. ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, A. P. L. This day stands in the English calendar as St. John Ante Port. Lat. The description of which is founded on a Roman Catholic legend that St. John in his old age was accused of atheism to Domitian, who sent him to Rome, and there, before the gate |