A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



of the foliage of the trees, but it is presently 

 beaten back again, and the genial warmth 

 repossesses the land. Before long, how- 

 ever, the cold returns to the charge with 

 augmented forces and gains much ground. 



The course of the seasons never does run 

 smooth, owing to the unequal distribution 

 of land and water, mountain, wood, and 

 plain. 



An equilibrium, however, is usually 

 reached in our climate in October, some- 

 times the most marked in November, form- 

 ing the delicious Indian summer ; a truce 

 is declared, and both forces, heat and cold, 

 meet and mingle in friendly converse on 

 the field. In the earlier season, this poise 

 of the temperature, this slack-water in na- 

 ture, comes in May and June ; but the Octo- 

 ber calm is most marked. Day after day, 

 and sometimes week after week, you cannot 

 tell which way the current is setting. In- 

 deed, there is no current, but the season 

 seems to drift a little this way or a little 

 that, just as the breeze happens to freshen 

 a little in one quarter or the other. The 

 fall of '74 was the most remarkable in this 

 respect I remember ever to have seen. The 

 equilibrium of the season lasted from the 

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