The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1881-07-28
THE MONTH OF July.
It's CharaeseFissics, It's Hisssry and II. Pres.
ent Baekwardners.

In some respects July is the least interesting
of the summer months. 1t has none Of the fresh
ness OF the early year. and none of the ripe rich
ness Of the autumn. "There is a sense Of heat
and quiet over all nature,D says keen observer;
1.-THE birds are silent; the little brooks are dried
up the earth is chapped with parehing; the
shadows of the trees are particularly grateful,
heavy and still; the oaks. which are the fresh
est, because latest in leaf form noble elumpf
canopies, looking, as You lie under them, of n
strong and emnlous green against the blue sky.
The traveller delights to cut across the country
through the fields and the lesfy lanes where,
nevertheless, the fiints sparkle with heat. The
cattle get into the shade or stand in the water.
The active and air-cutting swallows now begin
to assemble for migration, and seek their prey
above the shady places, where the insects seem
to get for coolDess rs they do at other times for
warmth. The sound of insects is also the only
audible thing now, increasing rather than less
ening the sense Of quiet by its gentle contrast
Inc st,llies. OF hne snltry July day is very
noticeable. 1t seems as though the year has put
forth all its young energy, and is now Iamber-
ingly awaiting the fruit Of its early animation
and activity. 1t is distinctly the turn Of the
tide of life that has hitherto been flowing
freely and copiously, and the next phase will be
that Of maturity and inc;pient decay. Every
where in our hemisphere July is the warmest
month, notwithstanding that the sun attains
its climax of power in June The accumulated
heat is greatest In July, and the days length
u
the contraction is NOS materially felt. This in
tense heat il is which seems to be drying up
the energy Of nature in July, and reduces every
thing to q calm quiescenee and to duller uni
formity Of green than is to be found at any pc
Rod Of the year. The dog days, commence on
the third Of the month by tradition, though
automatically, we are told, they ought proper
ly to begin at the end of August. The origin of
the term, rs most people are aware, is to be
found in the circumstance that Canieula the
Al -ta rias1 af q,
with the sun. 1t at this conjunction that
the Romans attributed the great heat of July,
and We have in a measure adopted their notion,
and still date the commencement of ''tlog days"
from the third of July, although Canieula rises
in conjunction with the sun little later every
year, and in course Ut time, therefore, il will be
phenomenon occurring in the dead of winter
when the proper Interpretation of the extreme
cold would vi eoarse he that the two co-operat-
ing lualinsries had gradually become estranged
and were now somehow working in antagonism.
We may, when the popular recognition comes to
be accorded to this alteration in tho astronomi-
cal fact, find our provincial magistrates ordering
dogs to be muzzled in mid-winter. The mean
temperature of July is, in this part of the world
about 62o Fahrenheit, but the suns power is, Of
course, daily declining. 1t reses at Greenwich
ut 346 in the morning ON the first of the month,
and sets at STA. On the last of the month the
sun rises at 4:ls and sets at 7:42, thus showing
contraction Of the days length amounting to
just one hour.
All authorities agree in ascribing the name of
the month TO Julius Casar "who,r says Leigh
Hunt, "eontriyed.to divide his names between
months and dynasties, and among his better
deeds of ambition, he reformed tine calendar"
In the old Allan calendar July stood fifth in the
years months, and had &c days. Five days were
taken from it when Rome first established itself
rs vigorous reforming power in the world, and
subsequently it WIS reduced to an even ~ days.
Finally julius Caesar gave back the odd day
flHa II ID N af