XXll. INTRODUCTION. 



the first winter birds are heard again ; and as we 

 pace along, with the procession of lighted tapers, 

 we see the earliest signs of lengthened daylight. 

 After which the festivals of this period are chiefly 

 the Moveable Feasts in Lent, beginning with 

 Shrovetide and Ash Wednesday, and endiiig with 

 Palm Snnday and Easter in the next season. 



Lent and its long fasts, preparatory to the 

 sable solemnities of Holy Week, is in accordance 

 ■with the face of nature, which is cold and bleak 

 at this season, Avheii all the earth seems doing 

 penance out of doors. And this repose or absence 

 of great excitement, both from food and hilarity, 

 is a very wholesome change, and prepares men for 

 the Pascal festivitv, to be described. 



TEMPI'S VERXALE, the SPRING 

 SEASON. 



Astronomy. — © T March 20, rises at VI.O, 

 sets at VI.O. 



b April 20, rises IV. 57, sets VI. 13. 



The entrance of the Sun into Aries, or the 

 Vernal Equinox is that point in the heavens where 

 the Sun appears when the day and night are of 

 equal length. From this point the longitudes of 

 the planetary bodies are calculated. 



