MAY. 97 



If we would only look at our changes of weather from a 

 philosophic point of view, then even the bad ones might 

 become bearable; but one must truly have a very philo- 

 sophic temperament to be able to go out in the morning 

 without top-coat and umbrella and get caught in a cold 

 south-wester at noon without betraying any tendency to 

 use unparliamentary expressions. 



III. 



The cold night-breaths of May set the seal on much of 

 the year's growth, lulling many living things to quiescence 

 and rest for the winter, and terminating the lives of many 

 more. By this time most of the exuberant insect life of 

 the summer has disappeared, the mature insects perishing, 

 while the younger forms are either preserved as eggs, 

 larvae, or pupae. Flowers too have nearly disappeared, and 

 the aesthetic house daine is reduced well nigh to despair to 

 find suitable floral decorations for her rooms. Everlastings 

 and dried grasses, honesty and bulrushes none of which 

 may be shaken too freely lest they reveal the dust which 

 clings so lovingly to them are made to do duty instead of 

 fresh flowers and autumn leaves. Deciduous trees and 

 thorn hedges have now lost nearly all their foliage, and 

 stand gaunt and bare to the winds of winter. 



But May is not nearly our coldest month ; it is often the 

 finest month of the year as far as steady weather is 

 concerned, and though there may perchance be a sprinkle 

 of snow and occasional night frosts the ground is not yet 

 chilled, and the days are frequently warm and bright. 

 Nothing chills the earth like clear nights after rain. A layer 

 of cloud or even mist however thin prevents radiation ; 

 but let the sky become intensely clear and the surface heat 

 from the earth pours into space, greatly lowering the heat 

 of the superficial layer of soil and of the strata of air 

 immediately above it. 



In the Northern Hemisphere many animals hybernate 

 on the approach of winter, the squirrels, dormice, hedge- 

 hogs, and others, curling themselves up for a time of sleep 



