NATURE'S CALENDAR 



JANUARY 



It is a fortunate thing for our purpose January i 



that the beginning of the calendar year is 

 made to come in midwinter, as it now 

 does throughout Christendom. January, 

 as its name implies, is truly a month of 

 retrospect and of prospect, the dead-point 

 of the circle of the seasons, the time when 

 nature rests preparatory to renewing its 

 labors. It is a larger night, a period of 

 quiet and repose. But nature is not dead, 

 only sleeping, since its work is done for 

 the present. The foremost natural duty 

 of all living beings, "to multiply and re- 

 plenish the earth," has been performed. 

 Plants have sprung up, put forth leaves, 

 displayed their flowers, ripened and dis- 

 tributed their seeds, and, " neither hasting 

 nor resting," have fulfilled their destiny. 

 If they were herbs they withered and died, 

 trusting to the seeds they had perfected 

 to bring up their like next year; if they 

 were of the sturdier sort then their roots 



