[Footnote 1: See the frontispiece.]
Just one moment longer, cousin Mary, I want to put this flower in your
hair. Now doesn't it look sweet, sister Aggy?"
"Oh, yes! very sweet. And here is the dearest little bud I ever saw. I took
it from the sweet-briar bush in the lane. Put that, too, in cousin Mary's
hair."
Little Florence, seeing what was going on, was soon, also, at work upon
Mary's hair, that, in a little while, was covered with buds and blossoms.
"Now she is our May Queen," said the children, as they hung fondly around
their cousin, who had come out into the country to enjoy a few weeks of
rural quiet, in the season of fruits and flowers. "And our May Queen must
sing us a song," said Agnes, who was sitting at the feet of her cousin.
"Sing us something about flowers."
"Oh, yes!" spoke up Grace, "sing us that beautiful piece by Mrs Howitt,
about the use of flowers. You sang it for us, you remember, the last time
you were here."