But May , or her mirthful spirit , dwelt all the year round at Merry Mount , sporting with the summer months and revelling with autumn and basking in the glow of winter 's fireside . Through a world of toil and care she flitted with a dream-like smile , and came hither to find a home among the lightsome hearts of Merry Mount . Never had the Maypole been so gayly decked as at sunset on Midsummer eve . This venerated emblem was a pine tree which had preserved the slender grace of youth , while it equalled the loftiest height of the old wood-monarchs . From its top streamed a silken banner colored like the rainbow . Down nearly to the ground the pole was dressed with birchen boughs , and others of the liveliest green , and some with silvery leaves fastened by ribbons that fluttered in fantastic knots of twenty different colors , but no sad ones . Garden-flowers and blossoms of the wilderness laughed gladly forth amid the verdure , so fresh and dewy that they must have grown by magic on that happy pine tree . Where this green and flowery splendor terminated the shaft of the Maypole was stained with the seven brilliant hues of the banner at its top . On the lowest green bough hung an abundant wreath of roses -- some that had been gathered in the sunniest spots of the forest , and others , of still richer blush , which the colonists had reared from English seed . O people of the Golden Age , the chief of your husbandry was to raise flowers ! But what was the wild throng that stood hand in hand about the Maypole ? It could not be that the fauns and nymphs , when driven from their classic groves and homes of ancient fable , had sought refuge , as all the persecuted did , in the fresh woods of the West . These were Gothic monsters , though perhaps of Grecian ancestry . On the shoulders of a comely youth uprose the head and branching antlers of a stag ; a second , human in all other points , had the grim visage of a wolf ; a third , still with the trunk and limbs of a mortal man , showed the beard and horns of a venerable he-goat . There was the likeness of a bear erect , brute in all but his hind legs , which were adorned with pink silk stockings . And here , again , almost as wondrous , stood a real bear of the dark forest , lending each of his forepaws to the grasp of a human hand and as ready for the dance as any in that circle . His inferior nature rose halfway to meet his companions as they stooped . Other faces wore the similitude of man or woman , but distorted or extravagant , with red noses pendulous before their mouths , which seemed of awful depth and stretched from ear to ear in an eternal fit of laughter . Here might be seen the salvage man -- well known in heraldry -- hairy as a baboon and girdled with green leaves . By his side -- a nobler figure , but still a counterfeit -- appeared an Indian hunter with feathery crest and wampum-belt .
Many XXXXX this strange company wore foolscaps and had little bells appended to their garments , tinkling with a silvery sound responsive to the inaudible music of their gleesome spirits .
By Down From On Through of that though while with