But I am naturally, and from principle, too, a lover of all those
innocent amusements which cheer the laborer's toil, and, as it were, put
their shoulders to the wheel of life, and help the poor man along with his
load of cares. Hence I saw with no small delight the rustic swain astride
the wooden horse of the carrousel, and the village maiden whirling round
and round in its dizzy car; or took my stand on the rising ground that
overlooked the dance, an idle spectator in a busy throng. It was just
where the village touched the outward border of the wood. There a little
area had been leveled beneath the trees, surrounded by a painted rail,
with a row of benches inside. The music was placed in a slight balcony,
built around the trunk of a large tree in the center; and the lamps,
hanging from the branches above, gave a gay, fantastic, and fairy look to
the scene. How often in such moments did I recall the lines of Goldsmith,
describing those "kinder skies" beneath which "France displays her bright
domain," and feel how true and masterly the sketch--
"Alike all ages; dames of ancient days
Have led their children through the mirthful maze,
And the gray grandsire, skilled in gestic lore,
Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore.
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