LADY'S SLIPPER.

Country gossips, nodding slow
When the fire is burning low,
Or chatting round about the well
On the green at Ashlins Dell,
With many a timid backward glance
And fingers crossed and eyes askance,
Still tell about the Midmas Day
When Marget Malherb went away.

"After Midmas Day shall break,
Maidens, neither brew nor bake;
See your house be sanded clean;
Wear no stitch of fairy green;
Go barefoot; wear nor hose nor shoon
From rise of sun to rise of moon;
For the Good People watch and wait
Waiting early, watching late,
For foolish maids who treat with scorn
The mystic rites of Midmas Morn."

Marget Malherb tossed her head,
"I fear no fairies' charms," she said--
For she'd new slippers she would wear
To show her lad the pretty pair,
Soft green leather, buckled red--
"I fear no fairies' charms," she said.
She drew them on and laughed in scorn,
And out she danced on Midmas Morn.