AUGUST 



The fireflies in the meadows are very numerous, 

 as if they had replenished their lights from the 

 lightning. The far-retreated thunder-clouds low 

 in the southeast horizon and in the north, emitting 

 low flashes which reveal their forms, appear to lift 

 their wings like fireflies, or it is a steady glare like 

 the glow-worm. Wherever they go, they make a 



meadow. 



THOREAU: Summer. 



10 



When a storm is brewing among the hills after 

 a sultry forenoon, it is field-day on the uplands for 

 the swift -winged swallows, who hardly wait for 

 mid-day to get well past before they begin their 

 multiplex gyrations, shooting in and out among 

 the hay-makers, scouring the stubble for insects, 

 with many a shrill, clear whistle and fife-like note, 

 dodging here and there, now high, now low, sweep- 

 ing, skimming, and curveting over and among the 

 orchard treetops with arrowy, graceful flight, their 

 coats of polished purple gleaming in the afternoon 

 sun with every dip and rise a-wing like bits of 

 blued steel. 



SYLVESTER: Homestead Highways. 



