IX. 



MARCH. 



To the inhabitants of a variable climate like our own, 

 the weather is at all times one of the most interesting 

 themes of speculation : but at no period of the year 

 does it come more directly home to our feelings than in 

 March. We know that there is a new sign in the 

 heavens, and the altitude of the sun in his meridian 

 seems plainly to assure us of the comforts of the ver- 

 nal season. But the aspect of the heavens is constantly 

 changing, the winds ever veering, clouds alternating 

 with sunshine, wind with calm, and rain with snow, so 

 that we are never sure, on a bland morning in March, 

 when the sun is shining almost with the fervor of sum- 

 mer, that we may not be overtaken by a snow-storm be- 

 fore noonday, or the cold of the arctic circle before sun- 

 set. Any one of the three winter months, though sel- 

 dom otherwise than cold and stormy, may once in a 

 few years be mild and pleasant from beginning to end : 

 but March preserves the same variable and boisterous 

 weather from year to year ; and is the only month when 

 day's harbingers never fulfil their promises ; when the 

 rosy-bosomed hours, that come up with the morning, 

 and the fair sisters, that weave the garlands of evening, 

 are all deceivers. 



