The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-10-09
INDIAN SUMMER.
Mystery Of the Enchanting Fifth Sea.
z, son Touches imagination Of
Nature Lovers.

ing on It's poles, is preparing to turn
a cold shoulder to the sun in the dark
days OF the winter soistice.
Indian summer has been aptly call.
ed a fifth season-as 1t owns charac.
teristics as distinct as those which
give special loneliness to spring, sum.
mer, autumn and winter. A generous.
ly inclined nature lover finds 1t din
cult to choose favorite from the
quartet, and when Indian summer
comes in with the rich red haze Of
evening vailing in purple tints at the
cleaning, when the dawn breaks
through violet gray mists and day it.
self wears away under q languorous
spell and the south wind signs the
night through with a soft, uneasy
sound, who then does not cry to the
fleeting hours:
Stay, oh, stay, thou art so fair"
October usually heralds its approach
with az pageant that invites to the,
woods, says the Chicago Evening
Post. The nipping chill OF fros,
works chemical change in the juices
OF the foliage, and gold and crimson
and russell hues transform the hedges
and trees far and wide. They wear
royal garments for season, and then
shed them to wait in patience until
the resting ime Of winter has gone.
| At Indian summer tine the whirling
planet sails into the broad aerial gulf
stream-a vapor place that stretches
through space. Its dust fills the at
mosphere, its moisture and peculiar
qualities for light reflection bring us
the hazy days, the mellow sunlight
and and that mysterious influence of
incidence when all the world would
go a-gypsying.
The new moon Of September loaned
its silver crescent increasing in bril-
lance with its days to early October.
The heavens present an interesting
sight to the star gazer roaming abroad
to hear the last cry of the lingering
clcadas and the merry chirp of the
crickets. Searching the northern sky
just below the polar star hangs the
Great Dipper, and 1t is right side up
for the first line during the year. The
bowl extends toward the east and the
handle bends toward he west.
No such variation of color with pass
ing months is to be seen in tropical
climes. but our vegetation dates from
the age of the mammoths and snow
buntings, when life was merry at the
pole before the great snow cap form
ed and hard times set in in earnest.
How wonderful must have been
those forests of giant conifers and
spreading evergreen. Hard times a,
the poles and the gradual encroach.
nent OF glaciers In the pleasant vai-
leys made existence problem, and
to accommodate vegetation to the
strange frosty atmosphere the new cold
weather flora, changing its dress with
the change of the seasons, came upon
the face OF the earth.
Southwark and still southwark
pushed the ice cap until the ice
streams flowed as far toward the
equator as the Mediterranean in Eu-
rope and our own familiar water
courses of the Connecticut and Hud-
son rivers. Then again shaken by
mysterious forces the earth rallied.
and, turning friendlier side toward
the great luminary, the sun, the gla.
ciers receded, but tropic weather
reigned no longer at the poles.
The giant conifers did not suffer so
largely from the change us the ever.
green tropical trees. Their big
leaves were not prepared to with.
stand wind and weather, and to meet
the hour the deciduous oaks, ashes
and elms were developed. These
trees know the coming OF autumn. All
living material recedes from the 70.
liage and is stored up In bank and
branches, where it awaits the coming
of spring. Then the row of special
lied division cells cuts the leaf stem
loose from the parent twig and 10, II
floats away on the winds of autumn.
Thus the beech tribe, the naples
the oaks, the elms and the apple
group have found out plan to econo
mize their stock Of foodstuffs through
the winter and burst into new 1eafy
attire and lovely bloom with the re
turn of the sun in spring. :