282 DAYS OUT OF DOORS. 



certain week in autumn that perfected nothing. Ifc ac- 

 quired no place in their religion, and if it was weather to 

 their liking they failed to do more than say as much 

 among themselves; but it suggested nothing, nor were 

 prayers offered for its continuance. 



In our own weather-lore, strangely enough, the season, 

 or " spell," does not figure prominently. It is given in 

 " Signal Service Notes," No. IX, Weather Proverbs, that, 

 " If we don't get our Indian summer in October or No- 

 vember, we will get it in winter." How jolly a thought 

 for the rambler, but alas ! as is so often the case with glib 

 sayings, there is not a vestige of truth in it. How it 

 collapses when confronted by statistics ! 



Be then the history of Indian summer what it may, 

 all know it when it really appears, as is evidenced by the 

 readiness to herald a spurious article ; and the contempla- 

 tive rambler plans his outings to cover all the ground. 



And wherein lies the charm of this short season? 

 Undoubtedly the yellow haze that softens the horizon and 

 gives the world a dreamy look has all to do with it. The 

 character of this haze is an open question. It is said to 

 be animal life so minute as to escape microscopical exam- 

 ination hypothetical creatures that make up in numbers 

 what they lack in size, and at one time shake the atmos- 

 phere and obscure the sun. By many it is thought to be 

 of vegetable origin ; and by a great many, in a pompous 

 manner, it is said to be " haze, and any fool knows what 

 that is." This, the remark of a prominent citizen who is 

 not suspected by his neighbors to be the greatest fool of 

 them all. And of such is many a town made up and 

 kept down. 



I glory in being one of the fools that do not know 

 what haze is. The few Indian summers that I have 

 known have put me in possession of but one or two insignifi- 

 cant facts concerning it. In the first place, it is never 



