40 AUTUMN NOTES IN IOWA 



tumn-like. . . September 27 : Decided white 

 frost last night. The trees show it perceptibly in 

 a heightened tint of coloring, rising here and 

 there; some single maples in the village streets 

 are vividly crimson. Bnt the general tint is still 

 green. ' ' ^ 



But summer often calls out her reserve forces 

 of heat at this time of the year, as if in final angry 

 effort to win the battle against the challenging au- 

 tumn. Or is it in requital for the hours autumn 

 stole from her in July or August ? A day or two 

 ago a temperature of 102 degrees was reported 

 from Bismarck. Early last month in a morning 

 stroll about the capitol grounds there, while the 

 blossoms of milkweeds and lepachys, and the 

 young Arkansas kingbirds still in the nest gave 

 witness of summer, the mercury was only a few 

 degrees above the freezing point. Today, with a 

 maximum of 92 degrees, is said to be the hottest 

 day of the year in Des Moines. But there is no 

 midsummer sultriness, and a fair breeze was blow- 

 ing in Union Park. There the tree locusts sang 

 in strenuous rhythm, but the phoebe strains of the 

 chickadees recalled cooler hours of spring and 

 winter. A scattered flock of perhaps a score of 

 robins was feeding in the park meadows, and the 

 frequent notes of the bluebirds had, to fancy, the 

 languor of fall rather than of summer. The 



■5 See Appendix, Note 3. 



