Pagina 621 di 788

To-day the village girls had brought to the altar of the Virgin

Mother the first tribute of spring-fresh sheaves of greenery;

everything was decked with nosegays and garlands-the altar, the

image, and even the belfry and the galleries. Sometimes a morning

zephyr, stirring from the east, would tear down the garlands and

throw them upon the brows of the kneeling worshippers, and would

spread fragrance abroad as from a priest's censer.