“The Maypole would then be reared, adorned with bright colors and surmounted with garlands, and near that spot which was to be the centre of the day’s attractions, a beautiful bower of roses and tulips abd hawthorn branches would show where the Queen of the May would sit in state. This honour was reserved for the prettiest girl of the village, and many maiden hearts have palpated at the happy prospect of being the chosen beauty”- H.E, The Graphic, May 4, 1878 (May-Day Customs)

 

“The joviality of the national character has not been entirely crushed by steam carriages, or spun into cloth, or blown up by Captain Warner… There was running in sacks, and running blindfold, jingling, racing, and dancing around the May-pole, while the band played old national airs that our forefathers loved…The peasantry dispersed, all pleased, and in good spirits, and we hope convinced that, after all, some among the gentry regard them as something more than mere machines, only made for routine and labour, and that the peasant's life has moments of sunshine, the brighter in contrast to its weary hours of toil”-- Rev. J.F. Russell, The English Churchman, 1844 (Judge 1991).

 

“When all was over, and the maypole was taken down, and the procession melted away into the distance, everyone felt that they had been witnessing a little ceremony which it is well to keep alive in these modern days.”-- The Bromley Timess, 1914 (Judge 1991).