The Glories of October 183 



The Glories of October 



BEFORE the frosts have curled the clover, 

 while yet the asters by the brook invite 

 the bee to honey that is a trifle bitter, 

 while yet the katydid is heard, and the catbirds 

 mew and the red-winged blackbirds creak, no 

 longer uttering their soft, sighing notes of con 

 tent ; while Nature is at her best and bravest and 

 sweetest, let us do honour to the most beautiful of 

 Octobers, in a region where October, if no other 

 month, is sure to be beautiful. The fall, like 

 the summer, has indeed been throughout a pattern 

 of seasons so far as airs of delicious temperance 

 and invigoration could make it so. We have 

 lacked the latter rains in their customary abun 

 dance, and the equinoctial storm dear to tradition 

 made but a feeble showing of purpose, and passed 

 us by for the coasts and the northern hills. But 

 day after day the clouds have swept over the in 

 tense blue in splendid snowy masses, or thin va 

 pours have melted in just so much haziness as to 



