OCTOBER. 



i 



The harvest is past, the summer is ended. 



JEREMIAH viii. 20. 



OCTOBER bears pretty much the same character 

 in the fall of the year, as April does in the spring. 

 The beginning of April is still wintry, the end may 

 often lay strong claims to the name of summer ; 

 the commencement of October is frequently distin- 

 guished by the lingering of summer-warmth and 

 summer-flowers, the end by frosts and snows. It 

 is a month as various as April clear skies and 

 fogs, drought and rain, sunshine and storm, green- 

 ness and nakedness, it has them all, and often in a 

 rapid succession. In the early part of the month 

 the hardy yarrow and a few other flowers remain, 

 and the meadow-saffron (Colchicum autumnale) and 

 the autumnal crocus (Crocus autumnalis) spring up 

 and give a last gleam of floral beauty to the year. 

 The grass, if the weather be mild, is vividly green, 

 and luxuriant as in spring. Fine clear days occa- 

 sionally come out, affording in the perfect repose of 

 the landscape, the blueness of the waters, and the 

 strong shadows cast by the trees upon the sunny 



