SEPTEMBER 



WE have hardly become familiar with summer ere 

 autumn arrives with its cool nights, its foggy mornings, 

 and its clear brilliant days. Yet the close of summer is 

 but the commencement of a variety of pleasant rural 

 occupations, of reaping and fruit-gathering, and the still 

 more exciting sports of the field. After this time we are 

 comparatively exempt from the extremes of temperature, 

 and we are free to ramble at any distance, without ex- 

 posure to sudden showers, that so often spring up in sum- 

 mer without warning us of their approach. Though the 

 spicy odors of June are no longer wafted upon the gales, 

 there is a clearness and freshness in the atmosphere more 

 agreeable than fragrance, giving buoyancy to the niind 

 and elasticity to the frame. 



The various employments of the farmer are changed 

 into agreeable recreations ; and the anxious toils of plant- 

 ing and haymaking have given place to the less weari- 

 some and more exhilarating labors of the harvest. Beside 

 the pleasures of the sportsman, there are successions of 

 fruit-gatherings and rural excursions of various kinds, 

 from the beginning^ of this month to the end of the 

 next, that impart to the young many cheerful themes 

 for remembrance during the rest of their days. The 

 provident simpler may be seen upon the hills busily 

 employed in gathering medicinal plants for her own 

 humble dispensary. Close by her side are neatly bound 

 sheaves of thoroughwort, hardback, bear-berry, penny- 

 royal, and life-everlasting, which she benevolently pro- 



