AUGUST. 239 



When the evenings are perceptibly lengthened and the 

 air partakes of the exhilarating freshness of autumn, 

 these happy insects commence their anthems of gladness ; 

 and their monotonous but agreeable melody is in sweet 

 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 herb and 

 flower appears at proper time ; and when one species has 

 attained maturity it gives place to its rightful successors 

 without any confusion, all rising and declining like the 



