XXXI. 



OCTOBER. 



The cool and temperate breezes that prevail at this 

 time almost constantly from the west, attended with a 

 clear atmosphere, denote the arrival of the brilliant 

 month of October, with its climate that alternately 

 chills the frame with frosty vapors by night, and enlivens 

 the heart with beauty and sunshine by day. At sun- 

 rise and sundown, the villagers are gathered round their- 

 fires, shivering with the cold ; the chirping insects have 

 also crept into their shelters and are silent. But ere the 

 sun has gained half his meridian height, the villagers 

 have forsaken their fires, and are busy in the orchards 

 beneath the glowing sunshine; and the insects arousedl 

 from their torpor, and warmed into new life, have again, 

 commenced their chirping as merrily as in August. A 

 multitude of winged insects that could hardly creeps 

 with torpor in the morning, are now darting and spin- 

 ning among the variegated herbage of the meadows, and, 

 the crickets are again singing their peculiar monotonous 

 songs among the grassy knolls. 



There are occasionally dull and cloudy days in Octo- 

 ber, the dreary precursors of approaching winter ; but 

 21 



