SEPTEMBER 27 



eighth the white frost glistened along the bridge 

 timbers and other heavy frosts soon followed. By 

 tlie end of the month the meadowlarks sang by 

 clumps of faded goldenrod, near the borders of 

 woods already rich in autumn tints. The pano- 

 rama of the w^oodlands along the Mississippi 

 bluffs, from Winona to St. Paul, seemed at its best 

 in the very first days of October. The past two 

 weeks here have brought us the most severe heated 

 period of the 3"ear, the temperature rising into the 

 nineties. The cliirping of the crickets has a mid- 

 summery effect, and for a week or more the loud 

 rasping calls of the katydids have been prominent 

 every evening. The earth is dry. After a slight 

 shower a few days ago the English sparrows and 

 the bluebirds, ignoring the bath-dish on the lawm, 

 dipped and dashed in the eaves-trough, a few feet 

 from the chamber window. This morning a robin 

 warbled his rain-song in vain.- ''All signs fail in 

 dry weather.'^ But the geese are moving south. 

 A friend reports a flock seen some two w^eeks ago 

 — early birds, surely, for this particular season. 

 Today from the heat and dust of the tennis court, 

 we looked up to w^atch a considerable flock, and 

 took comfort in the thought of the ''crisp" Octo- 

 ber davs that surely follow. 



2 See Appendix, Note 1. 



