XXXII. 



A LESSON OF TO-DAY. 



THE current season is quite commonly character- 

 ized as the coldest, the hottest, the wettest, or the 

 dryest, that was ever known. Men undoubtingly 

 assert that they never knew a Summer so hot, or a 

 Winter so cold, when in fact several such have oc- 

 curred within the cycle of their experience. Hardly 

 anything else is so easily or so speedily forgotten as, 

 extremes of temperature or inclemencies of weather, 

 after they have passed away. I presume there have 

 been six to ten Summers, since the beginning of this 

 century, as hot and as dry as that of 1870 ; yet the 

 fact remains that, 'throughout the Eastern section 

 of our country, to say nothing of the rest, the heat 

 and drouth of the current Summer have been 

 quite remarkable. For two months past, counting 

 from the 10th of June, nearly every day has been 

 a hot one, with blazing sunshine throughout, rarely 

 interrupted and slightly modified by infrequent 

 and inadequate showers ; and, as a general result 

 of this tropical fervor, the earth is parched and 

 baked from ten to forty inches from the surface ; 



(189) 



