AUGUST. 230 



When the evenings are perceptibly lengthened and the 

 air partakes of the exhilarating freshness of autumn, 

 these happy insects commence their anthems of gladm 

 and their monotonous but agreeable melody is in sweel 

 unison with the general serenity of nature. These voices 

 come from myriads of cheerful hearts, but there is a plain- 

 tiveness in their modulation that calls up the memory of 

 the past and turns our thoughts inwardly upon almost 

 forgotten joys and sorrows. How different are our emo- 

 tions from those awakened by the notes of the piping 

 frogs that hail the opening of spring ! All these sounds, 

 though not designed particularly for our benefit, are 

 adapted by nature to harmonize agreeably with our feel- 

 ings, and there is a soothing and lulling influence in the 

 song of the cicadas that softens into tranquillity the mel- 

 ancholy it inspires and tempers all our sadness into pleas- 

 ure. 



We no longer perceive that peculiar charm of spring 

 vegetation, that comes from the health and freshness 

 of every growing thing ; and we associate the flowers of 

 August with the dry, withered, and dying plants that 

 everywhere surround them. In June everything in the 

 aspect of nature is harmonious ; all is greenness and glad- 

 ness, and nothing appears in company with the flowers to 

 disfigure their charms or to affect the sight with dis- 

 pleasure. But August presents a motley spectacle of 

 rank and inelegant weeds, that overshadow the flowers ; 

 and the beauty of the fields is often hidden by the with- 

 ered vegetation of the last month. This appearance, how- 

 ever, is chiefly obvious in those places which have been 

 disturbed by cultivation. In the wilds Nature always 

 preserves the harmony of her seasons. Every hero and 

 flower appears at proper time; and when one species lias 

 attained maturity it gives place to its rightful successors 

 without any confusion, all rising and declining like the 



