JANUARY,. /' 



Up let us to the fields away, 



And breathe the fresh and balmy air. 



MARY HOWITT. 



TAKE nine-and-twenty sunny, bracing English 

 May days, steal from March as many still, 

 starry nights, to these add two rainy mornings 

 and evenings, and the product will resemble 

 a typical Indian January. This is the coolest 

 month in the year, a month when the climate 

 is invigorating and the sunshine temperate. 

 But even in January the sun's rays have 

 sufficient power to cause the thermoneter to 

 register 70 in the shade at noon, save on an 

 occasional cloudy day. 



Sunset is marked by a sudden fall of tem- 

 perature. The village smoke then hangs a few 

 feet above the earth like a blue-grey diaphanous 

 cloud. 



The cold increases throughout the hours of 

 darkness. In the Punjab hoar-frosts form 

 daily ; and in the milder United Provinces 



