AUTUMN RAIN 



j 4^\ ' 



ABOUT the beginning of October a great change usually 

 comes over the weather, with the arrival of what are com- 

 monly known as the equinoctial storms. The autumn 

 equinox falls on September 24 ; and neither that day nor 

 those immediately preceding or following it are marked in 

 any long series of years by exceptionally stormy weather, so 

 that the idea of the equinoctial storms is often quoted as a 

 popular fallacy. But none the less a period of gales and 

 rain does usually set in about that time in autumn, forming 

 a marked contrast with the calm bright weather which is 

 typical of early September ; and it is natural and not very 

 misleading to date this revolution of the seasons by the 

 chief landmark at this time of year, though it is doubtless 

 more correct to speak of the autumn storms, and thus to 

 avoid the suggestion that the stormy weather has a definite 

 connection with the equinox. When the weather breaks up 

 at this time of year the land seems given over to the 

 Atlantic winds and rain, which strip the woods of the outworn 

 vegetation of summer, soften the cleaned fields for the 

 autumn ploughing, and fill the pools and streams for the 

 needs of the coming year. There is a fine exhilaration and 

 refreshment about this wet and turbulent season, whether 

 the weather of the summer and early autumn has been foul 

 or fair. After the long heat and sunshine of a dry summer, 



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