14 THE LIFE OF THE 



and renders easy winter tasks of the farm, such as the important 

 one of felling trees and filling up the woodyard. 

 The return of spring is always eagerly looked for. 



Summer is coming, summer is coming ! 



I know it, I know it, I know it ! 

 Light again, leaf again, love again ! 



Yes ! my wild little Poet 



The first note of its coming is sounded by the wild geese passing 

 over high in the air, bound for their breeding grounds in Baffin's 

 Land or Hudson's Bay. Soon after, on some warm evening, the 

 drumming of the breeding snipe is heard over the lonely marshlands ; 

 a woodcock is seen feeding at the brookside ; the faint croakings 

 from little wayside pools tell that the softer airs are reviving the 

 torpid reptile life : then little green spears are thrust upwards in 

 the russet fields, and the migrant birds swarm over the bare pastures. 

 Now the plough is brought out and planting is presently in full 

 swing. All thoughts of sport are laid aside until seeding time is 

 over. By this time the trout are once more in good condition after 

 the glut of the mayfly, and excursions to the lakes with little 

 portable canvas canoes are in order. 



The advent of summer brings many tasks on the farm, a ceaseless 

 warfare against the weeds, which if let alone would soon destroy all 

 prospects of a crop. Delightful is the progress of the summer 

 season. All the country-side becomes adorned with purple masses 

 of rhodora and the crimson plumes of the kalmias. The forest 

 glades throw gusts of perfume in the face of the wayfarer. The 

 Linnaea vine, the wild cherry, the budding firs, the ' balm of Gilead ' 

 poplars, load the air with their heavy-scented fragrance. Of all 

 summer tasks the gathering of the hay crop is the most important ? 



Autumn is a season of prolonged and varied enjoyments. The 

 pleasures of garden, farm, and wood may be alternated. To the 

 sportsman and to him who can breathe defiance to black care there 

 is a loud call to the forest and the open. Game is at its prime. 

 Shall it be a few days' snipe shooting with your trusty old friend, 

 the boon companion of many outings which lie fair in the memory ? 

 Or shall it be a plunge into the forest with a native Micmac Indian 

 as your guide to try for a pair of moose antlers for your study walls ? 

 Or a search on the hills covered with berry-bearing shrubbery 

 for his majesty the bear ? Exactly as taste and inclination may 

 dictate. 



After the Canadian autumn there comes the marvellous ' Indian 

 summer ' a brief term of truce to the encroachments of the colds 

 of winter. 



