From Our Boys and Girls children's magazine, Oliver Optic editor, Lee and Shepard, 1870:
Have any of our readers been "a-May-ing," as the common expression is? Have they found any of those sweet-scented May-flowers that are among the first of Nature's harbingers of green leaves and bright blossoms? But kings and princes went "a-May-ing" many generations ago, and with them went, as the old poet Chaucer says, "all the court, both most and least, to fetch the flowers fresh." In those early years, when Henry VIII. of England and Catharine of Arragon rode from their palace in Greenwich into the country to meet the people, and join with them in their festivities, there were jolly times on May-day, and, in fact, the whole month was joyful. Our May is colder and more disagreeable than that of England, and therefore our celebrations of May-day are usually very uncomfortable; but our ancestors brought the custom with them across the ocean; and, ever since, we have tried to have a good time with paper flowers, blue arms and noses, chilly processions, and bad colds.
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