A LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND INSTRUCTIVE FAMILY PAPER. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 



Birds;" "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" 



" The Aviary and its Occupants," &c. 



" THE OBJECT OF OUR WORK IS TO MAKE MEN WISER, WITHOUT OBLIGING THEM TO TURN OVER FOLIOS AND 

 aUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING, AS WELL AS READING." — EVELYN. 



No. 10.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, MARCH 6. 



Price l$d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price 7 



PROGRESS OF THE SEASONS. 



MARCH. 



"We will take upon ourselves the full re- 

 ponsibility of the remark, that all our readers 

 are glad to have bid adieu to February. 

 A month has it been of sickness, illness, 

 death. We have ourselves been sorely in- 

 disposed for some weeks, — indeed all but at 

 death's door ; although necessitated to keep 

 moving, and venture abroad to fulfil our 

 prescribed needful duties. With the coming 

 season, we raise our drooping heads. 



We have had heavy rains, and lots of 

 them. Wind too has done its work, and 

 laid waste all before it. Scenes on shore, 

 and scenes at sea have been recorded, that 

 cause the heart to feel faint. We have sel- 

 dom perused such and so many sickening 

 accounts of lives sacrificed, in any February 

 of preceding years. Let us strive to forget 

 what we have heard, and live for the future. 

 Fog and damp we throw in, without com- 

 ment, 



We imagine the heavy rains are nearly 

 over ; not so the cold bracing air ; nor the 

 biting blasts from the keen East. These 

 we feel, and must feel for many weeks to 

 come. But these are endurable, and keep 

 us on the healthy trot : — 



Close crowds the shining atmosphere; and 



binds 

 Our strengthened bodies in its cold embrace, 

 Constringent; feeds and animates our blood, 

 Refines our spirits, through the new-strung nerves 

 In swifter sallies darting to the brain ; 

 Where sits the soul intense, collected, cool, 

 Bright as the skies and as the season keen. 

 All nature feels the renovating force 

 Of Winter.— 



All who would be well, young people as 

 well as older folk, should make a point of 

 walking out daily for at least one hour. It 

 is as much a " duty," as is any other matter 

 of daily performance. Want of circulation 

 is what destroys the happiness of half our 



homes. People are always ailing, and crowd- 

 ing round large fires, when they ought to be 

 rambling and frolicking in the fields or the 

 high road. Even in London when the wea- 

 ther holds fair, everybody should stir abroad. 

 The street pavements are dry, and every com- 

 fort is at command in our public parks. Gen- 

 tlemen of the faculty ! forgive us for so pick- 

 ing your pockets. 



But let us bid a sweet good morrow to the 

 coming Spring. It will be almost here be- 

 fore we can again discourse of the month of 

 April. Even now the glorious Sun lifts 

 high his mighty head, and penetrates his 

 deep darting force to the dark retreat of 

 vegetation ; setting 



the steaming power 



At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth 



In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green! 



Thou smiling Nature's universal robe ! 



We who reside in the country, and who can 



watch daily the effects of the growing sun, 



mark with delight the progress even of a 



single day : — 



Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 

 And swells, and deepens, to the cherish d eye. 

 The hawthorn whitens, and the juicy groves 

 Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 

 Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed 

 In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales. 



We now bid good bye to the Holly and 

 the Mistletoe; these will have no mqre 

 charms for us till the year is in " the sere 

 and yellow leaf." Yet have they served us 

 bravely through the months of winter, and 

 we dismiss them kindly. They call to mind, 

 as they become lost to sight, many things 

 that we would not have altogether forgotten. 

 H — e — m ! " Christmas comes but once a year." 



Years gone by, we remember to have ex- 

 perienced much genial warmth in the month 

 of March. The sun shone brightly, and 

 vegetation was in a truly forward state : — 



In His strong reign of blast and storm, 

 Smil'd many a long, bright, sunny day; 



The winds once bleak weiv soft and warm, 

 And Heaven put on the blue of May ! 



Vol. t.— New Series. 



