

SEPTEMBER 



Thy shield is the red harvest moon suspended 



So long beneath the heaven's o'erhanging eaves ; 

 Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended. 



Like flames upon the altar shine the sheaves ; 

 And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid, 

 Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves ! ' 



LONGFELLOW, Sonnet on Autumn. 



THE COUNTRY CALENDAR 



SEPTEMBER may be properly regarded as the beginning of the 

 year. It opens the school year, the farmer's year, and, from some 

 points of view, the naturalist's year. A month of very vigorous 

 germination and growth as well as of decay, it is above others the 

 period of change. After the satiety of August, September seems to 

 many of us the most refreshing and the most English of all the 

 months. For every one it has some few days of peculiar charm. It 

 is a busy month for the entomologist, both for rearing caterpillars 

 and seeking pupae in the crevices of the bark and in the ground at 

 the foot of trees. 



The First is recognised as one of the landmarks of the year, 

 because it ends for one large class of animals the spring and summer 

 truce which was first broken on August I2th, and is quite annulled 

 on October ist. Partridge shooting begins. 



September 23rd, Autumn begins ; days and nights are of equal 

 length. The day is the counterpart of March 2 ist, or Spring the first, 

 and shows many symptoms of spring. But at this autumn equinox 

 daylight and flowers and other fair things are dwindling, though 

 seeds are germinating. The tide of life ebbs and flows in different 

 creeks. Almost the only flower that has not yet bloomed some- 

 where is the ivy. 



The first full moon of the month is known as the harvest-moon. 



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