Year: 1867

FINE FAIL WEATHER.


We do not envy at this delicious season those
stolid people to whom all months are alike,
and who boast their independence of the wea-
ther-cock and the thermometer. Last Winter
they had the sensitive at an advantage, nor do
we dispute their fitness for Arctic or Equa-
toral expeditions but they are not OF constl-
tutions sufficiently delicate to appreciate that
fine atmosphere which spares us something OF
the glory Of Summer, and st the same time,
tempers its tOrrdity. In our northern regions
the Autumnal air is at once brace and
balm; the skies are brilliant without
being brazen; and if there is sense
of decay, it is of decay without inn
purity. We are inclined to think
that the melancholy with which the fall of the
leaf has been invested 10y the poets is merely
metaphysical They have thought less OF the
beauty around them than of the approaching
desolation of Wintcr-less of the glory OF the
years departure than of the departure itself.
Our own best poet of nature has sung the
"melancholy days. in n strain of infinite ten
derncss, which has touched many bereaved and
lonesome hearts. Thomson, the laureate of all
the seasons. yields for time TO the influence
of the pale, descending year" and " the desc
"latcd prospect Crabbe. with his wonted
eloominess, first notices "the foggy morn,"
and 1.-THE vanquished grecn,' although he
still declares that the nom is lovely
"though the air is codr-the fog
having fed, we suppose, before the strong and
triumphant sunrise. In our own climate. apart
from moral associations, the effect OF the pres
ent season is mt once inygorating and cxhila-
rating. 1t affords US an escape from the lassl-
tudc of the Summer; it prepares our eDfeebIcd
bodies for the Iigors of December; it cools the
fevcrs of July which may still be lingering in
our veins; and as physical exercise has again
become possible without inordinatc fatigue,
the long and profitable walk may now be in
dulgcd in without bodily discomfort. We by
no means see Nature at her worst, as size Is
about to resign her warmth and her opulent
variety; she puts on her most brilliant gar
ments just before sho resigns herself To
the sculptured nudity of Winter; and
as she sinks into the arms of the inverted year,
she leaves behind her trail of glowing sun
sets ard of sylvan glory which flames and
flashes like the funeral pyre Of an Eastern
queen.


Those who are disposed to complain of the





should admit the compensation which q long
and almost uninterrupted succession OF Autumn
nal days provides The harvest home is pro-
tractcd and merry festival we enjoy the
charms Of the clear sky without apprehension
of n sudden overcast and morning after morn
ing we rise to the pleasure of uncloudcd sun
shine. Ii is rs if we were permitted to have
little snatches of our lost Paradise, and of the
old serenity and security of Eden It is q
lucky moment when our sources of en-
joyment and our capacity TO enjoy are cotcm-
poraneous. The cool breezcs which give life
and color to the landscape give us also an APP
petite for its beauty. The atmosphere is like n
fine wine, and it is a new pleasure to 20 upon
the hill-tops to breathe it, while silver haze
falls down upon the landscape, and saves the
eye from the wcarlsomo effect OF a splendor
too long continued Now, too, we begin to en-
JOY the warmth of the sun, the kindly natural
heat from which we shaded ourselves in the
Summer, and which is more grateful and
strengthening than any artificial calolifc cNpc-
dcnts. Then everything tends to invigoIato
both mind and body, and in round of enjoy
ments which have no cncryating faint we pre-
pare for the austcrities of Winter us we approach
them.


AS Spring is the season of hope so Autumn
is that of calm and confident security. AS we
wander through the fields and mark the
yellow crops falling mt the touch Of the reap
er's weapon, we understand how wise seed
time insures bountiful harvest In spite of
occasional failures, there is nothing more
wonderful than the response which, year after
year, the fields of the husbandman make to
his steady and intelligent labor II is only in
these temperate regions that man may be
reasonably sure of reapng rs he sows. Here
he is safe alike from the niggard unproductiye-
ness of the poles, and from the capricious and
enfeebling indulgence of the tropics Here it
is that nothing comes TO him in his sleep here
that he must work or starvc; and here no hon
est work is ever wasted. The Winter is mighty,
but man is mighter than the Winter, though
it can arrest the current of great rivers and
stiflcn the soil into stone. The farmer hears
the premonitory walls of November as he gath
crs in his harvest, but, however rcmorselessy
they may sweep over the fields with their
bliglting breath. they cannot enter his well filled
barn. They arc swift, but he has been swifter
than they. Do not considerations like these
save our enjoyment of all these Autumnal lux
uries from the charge of eflcminacy7 1t is
mans toll alone which rescues these serene
days from the curse of bitter apprehension. and
from coming bliol,t which vould cnet ifs