i iS 



PASTORAL DAYS. 



':■%. ' ' ' blue-flags, and the eyebright blue winks 



fe-^5 „ and blinks as it awakens in the dazzling July sun. 

 > " ' T.%'rJt\' ' Then follows brimful August, with the sum- 



i'^'^yp- raer's consummation of luxuriance and bloom; with 

 ' - - • ' ""-, flowers in dense profusion in bouquets of iron-weed 

 \SXftJ and thoroughworts, of cardinal flowers and fragrant 



: *. clethra, with their host of blossoming companions. The 

 milk-weed pods fray out their early floss upon Septem- 

 ber breezes, and the blue petals of the gentian first unfold their fringes. 

 October overwhelms us with the friendly tokens of burr marigolds and 

 biclens ; while its thickets of black-alder lose their autumn verdure, and 



