NOVEMBER. 273 



beam and diminished fervor, or remains behind the 

 misty veil that overshadows the earth. Dark clouds of 

 ominous forms and threatening look, brood sometimes 

 for whole days over the sullen atmosphere, through 

 which the struggling beams of the sun will occasionally 

 peer, with a smile of complacency, that seems to bid us 

 not wholly despair of his benignant presence. Every 

 .object in the rural world tells of the coming of snows,, 

 and of the rapid passing of the genial days of autumn.. 

 The evergreens are the only lively objects that grace the 

 landscape; and the flowers lie buried under the faded 

 leaves of the lately beautiful forests, that now lift up 

 their naked branches, as if in supplication to the skies. 

 The spirit of autumnal desolation sits upon the hills ; 

 and in her baleful presence, the northern blasts assem 

 ble upon the plains, and the wintry frosts gather together 

 in the once smiling valleys. 



Such are the changes of the seasons ; melancholy 

 emblems of the vicissitudes of life. Transient is the 

 period of youth, like the blooming month of May ; and 

 rapidly, like the flowers of summer, fade all the joys of 

 early manhood. Our early hopes, after they have 

 finished their songs of promise, vanish like the warbling 

 birds ; and the visions of our youthful fancy, flit away 

 like the insects that glitter for a few brief days, and 

 then perish for ever. Yet as the pleasant things' of 

 one month are followed by those equally delightful in. 

 the next that arrives so are the joys of youth that 

 perish, succeeded by the riper, though less exhilarating 

 pleasures of manhood. These, in their turn, are lost, 

 but to be replaced by the tranquil and sober comforts 

 of age, as the autumnal harvest crowns the luxurious 

 enjoyments of summer. Joys are constantly alternat 

 ing with sorrows; and the regrets we pour over our 



