NOVEMBER. 281 



Tiz., 1840 and '50 ; two as having thirty days, 1865 and 

 "J'i, and one, forty-two days, 1849. . . . 



" 1865, a cold, changeable, and dry year, but closing 

 with an autumn exceedingly pleasant and warm ; the whole 

 month of November being balmy and delightful, though 

 with comparatively little haze, which characterizes true 

 Indian summer." 



The above describes the autumn weather of the south- 

 ern shore of Lake Michigan, at and about Chicago. Let 

 us now consider this portion of the year at home. 



In Peirce's little volume on the weather of Phila- 

 delphia and vicinity, for fifty-seven consecutive years, the 

 author mentions Indian summer but three times ; so the 

 pleasant weather of fifty-four years may be assumed not 

 to have reached the standard required. As I understand 

 it, the true " summer " week must occur in November, 

 and a very marked hazy condition of the atmosphere is an 

 absolutely essential feature. And here let me ask, was 

 this peculiarity a regular feature, or approximately so, of 

 late autumn in Indian times ? Had the generally densely 

 forested condition of the country aught to do with it ? 

 This is not improbable, and one evidence of it still holds. 

 Among the mountains,, where there are still tracts of 

 woodland, although a meager second or third growth, 

 there often occurs a typical Indian summer when such 

 weather is wanting in the comparatively treeless tracts of 

 the lower, level country. But, after all, why the Indians 

 are coupled with it, remains a mystery. The term implies 

 that the aborigines did not appreciate the summer proper, 

 which is not true. They were partial to it, and recognized 

 all its merits. May they called the beginning of sum- 

 mer, June was summer proper, and July was known by 

 a long name, the meaning of which is quite suggestive— 

 " when the bees are busiest." There is no evidence that 

 they ignored three months of fruitful weather for an un- 



