comstock] NOVEMBER NATURE-STUDY 363 



FOURTH GRADE 



November is the accepted month for that elusive season, called 

 Indian summer, and the pupils should be taught to look for it and 

 enjoy it, and thus add to their spiritual assets, for Indian summer 

 is surely a season appealing to the finer sensibilities ; to feel it and 

 enjoy it cultivates a spiritual comprehension. It is the season 

 when the 



"Light of dreams around the year in golden glory lies; 

 The Heavens are full of floating mysteries, 

 And down the lake the veiled splendor beams. 

 Like hidden poets lie the hazy streams, 

 Mantled with mysteries of their own romance, 

 While scarce a breath disturbs their drowsy trance." 



(Thomas Buchanan Read). 



"Linger, oh day, 



Let not thy purple haze fade utterly away. 

 The Indian summer lays 

 Her tender touch upon the emerald hills. 

 Exquisite thrills 



Of delicate gladness fill the blue-veined air, 

 More restful even than rest, 

 The passionate sweetness that is everywhere." 



j£j (Alice M. Rollins). 



Witch-hazel. — The starry hazel blossoms which 

 brighten the woods of November are well worth 

 careful study and as a matter of dynamics, there is 

 scarcely a firearm of modern warfare that can 

 shoot so far in comparison with its size as the 

 husk of the hazel shoots its seed. Forty-five feet 

 is a record distance for this little projectile. The 

 lessons divide naturally into three ; a study of the 

 shrub in the woods, obs. 1-5, p. 812 ; a study of the blossoms, obs. 

 6-10, p. 8 13 . In addition there should be an English theme giving 

 the legends of this shrub. 



Corn. — It is best to begin the study of this beautiful and benefi- 

 cent plant when its golden store is garnered and its brown leaves on 

 the scattered stalks and stooks shiver in the wind. The autumn 

 lesson on the corn may be found on p. 665. A cornstalk should be 

 brought to the schoolroom for study and it should show the true 

 roots and the brace roots as well as the leaves. For study of stalk 

 see obs. 1-9, p. 665. The study of the ear should be given in 

 another lesson, obs. 1 2-16. In connection with this should be read 

 or recited the Corn Song by Whittier and Columbia's Emblem by 

 Edna Dean Proctor. On p. 660 may be found material for a story 



