Page:Angela Brazil--the leader of the lower school.djvu/266

252 For be it known to one and all,
 * This blissful companie

Doth now unite all former Guilds,
 * So many as there be.

Athletics, Music, Drama, Arts,
 * We do include them all

In the United Juniors' Guild
 * We form at Briarcroft Hall.

Each member's pledged to do her best
 * To aid the common weal,

And to the tenets of the Guild
 * Aye to be stanch and leal.

Then wave the banner, flaunt the badge,
 * And Crier, ring the bell!

Good luck to our United Guild!
 * Long may it prosper well!"

Miss Poppleton, Miss Edith, and the mistresses, who composed the audience, applauded heartily at the end of the marching song.

It had made a good introduction for the Guild, and an opening for the proceedings which were to follow. Gipsy's programme had been drawn up somewhat on the lines of a May Day masque; she herself called it "The Festival of the Briar Rose". It consisted of a number of songs and dances, appropriate to the occasion, which she had collected from the repertoire of the Lower School. Each Form took its own turn. The little girls of the First performed a charming flower dance, the Second sang a madrigal in praise of summer and the Lower Third a May Day glee, the Upper Third executed a lively Tarantella, the Lower Fourth took Sir Roger de Coverley, the Upper Fourth