Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-10-12

INDIAN SUMNER. That short delicious sea-
son between the trosts OF October and the Ice
of late November, is feature peculiar to the
climate of our country, and was noticed by the
early settlers OF New England, in letters written
to their friends at home They were charmed
by the strange gorgeous beauty OF the Amerl-
can forests, when the trees seemed shrouded
that ushered in that delightful season of warm,
bamy air, which seemed to bless all nature
with soothing dreaminess and repose after
the labor of producing and garnering earth
treasures had ceased. 1t is season when the
storms of the autumnal equinox are over, and
some times two or three weeks OF uninterrupted
fine weather give quiet delight before the bit
ter cold and the rough blasts ofwlnter come on.
This is the season which the Indians, in the
middle regions of the continent looked for
ward to with pleasure, for during its contiuu
auce they gathered in thoir winter store of
fully ripencd maize (which we call ludian
corn), and their chief supply of flesh for use
i'll the dreary months Of deep snow. Then
the lakes small and great, are placid: Some
times for days not a wavelet appears upon their
bosoms, and navigation over long distances In
bark canoes was and is perfectly safe.
The savagcs regarded this season as gift OF
one of their most honored deities-the south
west wind personifed-to whose sunny and
fruitful land these more northerly tribes believ-
ed their souls would 60 after death. This
was the Indians real harvest time, and for
that reason the early settlers called 1T the In
dams Summer.
Decay is slow combustion. With this fact in
hand, philosophers have plausiby accounted
for the warmth of the Indian Sumner time on
the borders of Winter by assuming that the
heat then evolved in the process of the decay
of the forest leaves and other vegetation is pro-
duced by that decay. !.
Ia Europe a corresponding recurrence OF
Summer weather in late autumn is styled st.
MATHIS Mort;n's Summer, from Martiumas, or St.
Martins Day, which falls on the llth of No.
ycmbcr, aud which is marked by the eating of
roast goose in England, while In France 1t Is
kent as a kind of carnival. .-LynchJwy hep.
EARLY MORNING Somebody who has taken
the trouble to rise early in the morning imparts
to the Independent some very interesting facts
in regard to that portion OF the day. tic says
From four o'clock till seven there is period
as distinct from day as is the time from SIX IN
the evening until ten. Most persons under
stand the meaning of evening" but morning
means no more than pont-a mere time 10
get up and dress for the day. But decidedly
the richest, most marked part OF the day-the
fullest of unique joys, songs and suggestions
IS the morning. Thomas Fuller lis it?) says ):
''Do not spill thy morning 1.-THE quin9tessene,e , OF
the quntessence About tour Of Ian an Aueust zaae5ss
YOU. Where it starts don t know. Probably
on the shores Of the Atlantic, with reed birds;
but it always comes, with the sun, from the
East At first you hear just 2ts, one inqq;[+pg ttq
another sleepy twill then another and another,
keener, fuller, wide awake, joyful; until the
valley is rocking and rolling with tide OF song.
And all the while it is drawing nearer. a looln n
shouts in the elm over the roof; the tide dash :s
eS and flows over you-on, on to the Paelne.
For half an hour every bird in all your world is
half crazed with inspiration, pouring forth the n,
exquisite rhymth Of his being in haeiujasf y: N
chorus Aud then the perfume and purity nc, Of Of
the air. 1t has an odor neither of night nor OF OF
dav; but the dew seems to hold in solution
those peculiar honeysuckle odors that are never
euitted till night.