Between the stanzas there fell a stillness. There seemed not the least murmur of a leaf, not the slightest whisper of the air, to mar the wondrous silence.

As the music of the hymn at last died away, there rang out over Oxford wild, joyous bells announcing the ist of May. The sleeping city must waken now and join in praise of the springtime.

If this celebration of May morning were all a solemnity, it would be out of character. It would be neither the Englishman nor the college boy that would take such a ceremony altogether seriously.

To the astonishment of the grave Alice and to the delight of Barbara, just as Magdalen's bells began to ring, the undergraduates seized one another's caps and gowns, and sent them flying over the tower battlements. The black winged gowns looked like huge birds fluttering and circling in the air. The fun was great when a cap alighted on a high roof or a gown floated gracefully into a tree-top. This was one of the eagerly awaited opportunities of the col lege scout, who turned a penny by rescuing stray caps and gowns.

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