Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1874-10-15
The Passing of Summer.

yielded TO, impossible to anaIvze in tho
lnueilhabie sradations, the impreceptible
Diendinss, of the great, peaceful processes
OF nature. What is the spell that rests in
the meeting twilights of sun and moon
the solemn growth OF the stars into the
nightly vault, the vanishing of azure into
gray, the darkening of gray into unsearch
able depthsE What is il that fascinates in
the union Of cloud and water at the oceans
rim that draws the voyager to nothern
fields of ice and snow; that makes
some coast alluring, some lone isle
10 Instant men, who must go there, or die?
IL Is the mystery of uncertainty. the illu
sive neshborhood of beginning and end
lhg, the border-land community of the
real anu imaginary; and akin to the Geeper
enigma OF our life, is uncomprehended
linking with the unguessed past and m
discovered future
Nature delights in this vague charm. !
and love to elude, evadc. vet half reveal |
IL Is The enchantment of beauty and the
attraction of pursuit. How inviting the
challenge search for their secret. and leave |
the searcher face to face with the inscru- |
table goddess, still as far as ever from her
intimacy We wander in her pleasapces
as wondering children, Notwithstanding ALI |
our boosted discoveries aud grave concIu.
HIohs' AZ every turn new magic confronts
us "llmpSes here and there we catch 81 |
Vl>tas newly blooming wealthily ripeninp
gorgcously fading or shining with snow
No barriers mar the free pcrspcctive hrt
ever anu anon we start to see that gates
have incXorably closed in the path we trod
so unaware of limits, nor can we bv any
deviation mark the moment or the snot
of change.
Thus we pass the boundary betwixt |
season and season. The midnight that
separates two calendar months. awakens
no sense Of difference, but, one day we
suddenly perceive that nature has invi.iblv
builded her Gordon OF separa,Iop. .nl
"hAt was. i not. Chiefly of all, the sum-
Hier fingers, 10th to 20. For all the co,,l
capfIctS OF The skies, The ominous cadence
.,t 'L, ,,.i.,
corn-ior all these rare, prophetic lrosf-
and cumulative warnings, summer clinus
and brood> over the earth with loving
and August goes uuhcedcd.
Sometimes the thoughtful watcher of
her moods notes, as within this present
September. how there falls upon all things
a hush, as of Sabbath stiffness. and vet A
stiffness that is not 80 much Of peace and
rest and labor done, like that later. sacred
quiet Of October, as Of patient expectations
Il enfods the hills and fields, forest and
streams. and steals on the sense OF him
who stands in its mute spell until, though
the air be sweet. warm, odorous, the sun
CHEEKY and faithful in his visitations: and
the world goes on with its business aud
frolic unmoved-he shares the panied sus-
pensc and feels that he, too, waits the
fate the green earth teels at hand
But atterward comes the slow. rray
gathering OF the clouds. that, one day. |
hoat fleccily over the soft Sky; then, one .
night, crowd up beneath the zenith; then
dI>perse sulhily before the sun to hang in
gloomy. bank Oh the. sunset horizon; then
swittcr assemble again and thicken and
dispute the ownership of the sky; then
finally conquer and descend upon the land T
with sobbing winds and cold, drear rain
and the waiting of nature is over
VIXEN the storm is gone, and its ragged
fragments irresolutely DRIFT across the
deep blue heavens, it is changed earth
that the sun looks freshly out upon. The
verdure of the trees, which summer rains
afresh, is dulled; and beaten down be-
meath them are the leaves the rude dash
has despoiled them of. The ferns have
yielded their slender grace to the harsh
onset OF the storm, and the asters and gol-
den-roads wear a conscious air OF their
lordship, As they show brightly against the
way-side fences, and the hedge-rows with
their lessening leaves. There is a new
quality in the air which tells that autumn
is here. And when one looks back on
those hushed and breathless days, he feels 4
that summer had really gone then. and i
only the passionate, warmth of her fare
well was lingering to beguile But when .
she went we cannot tell, Springfield |
Republican.