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INDIAN SUMMER. 
Of all the subjects connected with the 
original race in American life, none holds, 
probably, a more prominent place in the 
mind of the masses than the Indian Sum¬ 
mer, a short but surpassingly beautiful season 
in the latter part of Autumn. A similar 
spell of tine Weather, as it is called by anoth¬ 
er Americanism, is noticed in other countries 
also, and frequently compared to the halcy¬ 
on period of the Greeks, so that Shakspeare 
could pointedly say : 
Expect Saint Murtyn’s Summer, halcyon 
days. ( Henry 17., Part 1., B.,) in allusion 
to what ho elsewhere calls: 
“Fnrewell thou latter Sprtnp, 
rurewoll till luillmvn Summer.’'— Henry IV. 
In England the season derived its name of 
Saint Martin's or Martin Mass Summer, 
from the fact that it commonly begins there 
about Nov. 11, St. Martyu’s Day ; on the 
Continent it. is called Summer Close and 
"let* do SMartin," with an ungallant 
double meaning, which allows the term to 
be applied to ladies of advancing years. It 
may be that there is an association of the 
same idea, though loss delicately expressed 
in the German ' Altc Weibcr So miner f while 
in Chili it is called St. John’s summer. In 
the United States, this.season, when “twinkle 
in the smoky light the waters of the rill,” 
generally begins in November, though the 
period vaiies within a month. It is charac¬ 
terized by lair but not brilliant weather; the 
air is smoky and hazy, perfectly still and 
moist; ami the sun shines dimly, but softly 
and sweetly, through an atmosphere that 
some call copper-colored and others golden, 
in accordance with their power oi poetical 
perception. 
The name of Indian summer is differently 
explained. Rev. James Freeman derives ii 
from the fact that the Indians are particu¬ 
larly fond of it, regarding it as a special gilt 
of their favorite god, the god of the south¬ 
west, who scuds the soft southwest winds, 
nnd to whom they go alter death. Daniel 
Webster said that the early settlors gave that 
name to the season because they ascribed its 
peculiar features, the heat and the haze, to 
_the burning of the prairies by the Indians at 
that time. Mr. Kercheval however,gives a 
moro plausible explanation —“ It sometimes 
happened that after the apparent onset of 
winter, the weather became warm, the smoky 
time commenced, and lasted for a consider¬ 
able number of days. This was the Indian 
summer, because it afTordcd the Indians— 
who during the severe winter never made 
any incursions into the settlements—another 
opportunity of visiting them with their des¬ 
tructive warfare. The melting of the snow 
saddened every countenance, and the genial 
warmth of the sun chilled every heart with 
horror. The apprehension of another visit r 
troin the Indians, and of being driven back j 
to the detested fort, was painful in the high¬ 
est degree.”— Amerieanisme, by M. Scheie Be ' 
Vere, LL. D. 1 
FEEDING THE BIRDS IKT WlJSTrHBR. 
MARRIAGE STATISTICS. 
It is interesting to note the variations of 
the marriage rate in the principal countries 
of Europe for ten years, and it is a memor¬ 
able fact that Prussia takes the lead, and 
her rate of marriages (1844-53) is 861 to 
100,000 people, while England (1845-54) 
gives 847; Austria (1843-51), 838; and 
France (1844r-o3), 788. Bavaria shows the 
smallest average, 659, but this comes from 
restrictive laws rather than from the degra¬ 
dation of the people, as Hie recent increase , 
of marriages since the change of laws 
pioves. We find that the different countries 
differ considerably from each other in the 
proportion of the classes of persons married, 
while this proportion is nearly constant in 
each country itself. As a remarkable in¬ 
stance of this, we have the fact that while 
in Denmark (1845-54) the proportion of 
marriages of bachelors to widows was 
8 2-10, in France (1844-53) the proportion 
Was 3 7-10, a difference of nearly five per 
cent, in favor of the superior charms of 
Danish over French widows in the eyes of 
young men, while Eugland shows the aver¬ 
age of 4 3-10, which is about twenty-five 
per cent, higher than the French and fifty 
per cent, lower than the Danish. 
The ages at which marriages take place 
also show memorable variations in different 
countries; white each country tends to keep 
its own average, and England is asset in her 
habit in this respect as in most others. Here 
is a remarkable table of the rate of marriage 
of persons under twenty years, out of 10,000 
married: 
island .. 
Netherlands. 109 . . 
ft 
Contrast these figures with the lists of 
marriages of persons over sixty, and we 
have a different view of married life, as we 
learn that the numbers vary from Eugland, 
which shows 90 men and 20 women mar- 
1 ried at over sixty years out of 10,000 mar¬ 
ried, to Bavaria, which shows 108 men and 
22 women. Of the women married at over 
fifty, Norway shows 194 out of 10,000, 
, France 187, and warm Sardinia, where 
women mature so early, 121 blushing brides 
of over fifty are led, on the average, to the 
hymeneal altar.— Harper's Magazine. 
-- 
LANGUAGE OF BRUTES. 
It may be hard to prove just how it is 
that the parrot sometimes use 3 so appropri¬ 
ately the words it lias learned. In a book 
published not long ago containing many 
anecdotes of animal sagacity, we find one 
of a parrot which expressed itself with con¬ 
siderable pertinence in one instance, though 
we are not informed whether it ever talked 
so much to the point on any other occasion. 
“ A parrot belonging to some friends of 
mine,” says the writer, and he vouches for 
the accuracy of the story, “ was generally 
taken out ot the room when the family as- 
| semblcd for prayers, lest lie might take it 
into his head to join irreverently in the re¬ 
sponses. One evening, however, his pres¬ 
ence happened to be unnoticed, and he was 
forgotten. 
“ For some time he maintained a decorous 
silence; but at length, instead of ‘Amen,’ 
out he came with ‘ Cheer, boys, cheer.’ On 
this the butler was directed to remove him, 
and had got as far as the door with him', 
when the bird,perhaps thinking that he had 
committed himself, and had better apologize, 
called out, 1 Sorry 1 spoke.’ "—From Old and 
New fa' Bee. 
-- 
NEW ENGLAND FARM - BOUiSES. 
I am not to be reckoned among the oldest 
persons here to-day, but I have seeu many 
New England farm-houses; and comforta¬ 
ble, inviting places they were. There was 
the long kitchen, with its broad, deep fire- i 
place in which a half cord of wood could he < 
piled and fired on festive nights. What sup- 1 
pers, what sports there were after a spinning- j 
, bee, or a quilting-bee, or a corn-busking! 
What Thanksgiving feasts! What birth¬ 
day rejoicings, what wedding festivals those 
old kitchens witnessed! The tiro on the 
wido hearths never went out. And all 
through the winter months, when the crops 
had been boused in the barns, and stored in 
tlie cellars, joyful among themselves, as Vir¬ 
gil has it, the farmers enjoyed mutual feasts. 
There was little of what is called rivalry 
or envy in those elder days among the farm¬ 
ers. There was a general harmony and good 
neighborhood. The interest of one was the 
interest of all. Did one of them have the 
misfortune to have his house or barn burnt, 
bis neighbors would raise and finish a new 
house or barn for him. What famous women 
were the wives of the farmers who lived in 
those houses ! How they rose np early and 
sat up late, and carded wool and flax, and 
spun yarn, and knitted stockings, and wove 
cloth; and they made butter and cheese; 
and they raised up sons and daughters all 
the while. Verily, as Mr. Alexander Everett 
once wrote, there should an order go forth 
for a solemn bee to assemble in every State 
iu New England with a view to ascertain and 
preserve the oral traditions of the customs of 
our ancestors, of the farmers of the early 
days of our State.—A. B. Hopes, at Norfolk 
Go. Exhibition. 
- 
NO BONES IN THE OCEAN. 
Mr. Jeffrey lias established the fact that 
bones disappear in the ocean. By dredging 
it is common to bring up teeth, but ra'rely 
ever a bone of auy kind; these, however 
compact, dissolve if exposed to the action 
of the water but a litile time. On the con- 
liai y, teeth—which are not bones any more 
Ilian whales are fish—resist the destroying 
action of the sea-water indefinitely. It is, 
therefore, a powerful solvent. Still the pop- 
uinr opinion is that it is a brine. If such 
were the case, the bottom of all the seas 
would, long ago, have been shallowed by 
immense accumulation of carcasses and pro¬ 
ducts of the vegetable kingdom constantly 
floating into them. 
Dentine, the peculiar material of which 
teeth are formed, and the enamel coveriug 
them, offer extraordinary resistance to these 
chemical agencies which resolve other ani¬ 
mal remains into nothingness. Mounds in 
the West, tumuli in Europe and Asia, which 
are believed to anlc-date sacred history for 
thousands ot years, yield up perfectly sound 
teelli, on which thud appears to have made 
no impression whatever.— Ed.. Monthly. 
- — 
FEEDING THE BIRDS. 
That is a charming picture which appears 
above. Providence, as some one lias finely 
expressed it, sends the snow birds to remind 
us that, amid the severities and often suffer¬ 
ings of winter, the spring-time, with its bud¬ 
ding life and beauties, is again to return. 
Though Nature presents a lifeless, inani¬ 
mate appearance, wc arc to be reminded by 
these "visitors from the skies” that the 
“snow-bound” period is only temporary — 
the vernal season not far distant. 
Robin, blue bird and swallow have sped 
away on their Southern flight, but, while 
the poet mourns their departure, unnum¬ 
bered snow birds have suddenly appeared, 
and, perching on the house and window 
sill, chirp, chirp a merry welcome to us. 
It is a pleasant pastime to watch them as 
they hop about from twig to tree, now dart¬ 
ing Into alley-ways for a crumb of bread, 
and now whirring through an open door, 
fearing no harm, anxious to cultivate a more 
intimate acquaintance. 
The innocent countenance of the child 
brightens as her pets perch all around her 
waiting their turn for the breakfast which 
she scatters among them. Even Jim Crow’s 
curiosity has for once got the better of his 
caution, and he has been attracted to the 
scene, bringing Mrs. Jim along with him. 
But they will t not tarry long on that limb. 
Bolote Ibis, the little girl’s brother has un¬ 
doubtedly pulled down the fowling-piece 
from its place, and pretty soon there will be 
a flash and a bang, if the two spectators 
don’t, in the meanwhile, “ travel.” Man¬ 
kind have voted poor crow an outlaw, and 
lie must, seemingly, always remain under 
the ban. 
THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS. 
Whither away, Robin, 
Whither away? 
Is it through envy of the maple loaf. 
Whoso blushes mock the crimson of thy breast 
Thou wilt, not stay I 
The summer days were long, yet all too brief 
I ho happy season thou hast been our guest: 
Whither away ? 
Whither away, Blue-bird, 
Whither away ? 
The blast is chill, yet in the upper sky 
Thou can'st not ilnd the color of thy wings. 
The hue of May. 
Warbler, why thy spcod Southern flight? Ah 
why 
Thon too, whose song lirst told us of the Spring ? 
Whither away ? 
Whither away, Swallow, 
Whither away ? 
Cuu'st thou no longer tarry in the North, 
Here where our roof so well hath screened thr 
nest ? 
Not one short day ? 
Wilt thou- as if thou human wort—go forth 
And wanton far from those who love thoo host ? 
Whither away ? 
\E. C. Stillman, in Scribner's Monthly. 
f t v ■ 
torirs for 1!nudists. 
THREE FEET FROM ETERNITY: 
OR, A NIGHT ADVENTURE IN VIRGINIA, 
BY DAVID W. JUDD. 
We were resting amid the charming pas¬ 
toral scenes of Pleasant Valley, from the 
fatigues ol the short though arduous cam¬ 
paign which culminated in the AntUslam 
victory, when word was brought to Gen. 
McClellan one afternoon, that Gen. Lek 
was breaking camp in the Shenandoah Val¬ 
ley. 
Officers and privates had alike becorno 
enamored with the lovely region. Turn in 
whatever direction one encounlorod the 
most romantic scenery. Ascending the 
neighboring knobs or highlands, the eyo 
embraced within Its broad sweep, llllle vil¬ 
lages crowning eminences or nestling iu 
dells; larm houses standing out boldly on 
the hill tops, or half hidden down (lie woody 
slopes; yellow fields of grain, green pas¬ 
tilles and sombre tallows; luxuriant or* 
chards and groves of maple, Interspersed 
with oak; the tortuous Aulietam forming 
in its serpen line windings numerous minia¬ 
ture islands ; lessor streams sparkling in Dm 
sunlight, leaping and bubbling down the 
mountain sides or flowing noiselessly through 
the verdant meadows—Ihe whole compris¬ 
ing a landscape of surpassing beauty and 
loveliness. 
Only r few Weeks before, the “horrid 
cloud, called battle, had settled down on 
this fair valley and over this gorgeous patch- 
work of mil ure had rolled the “ hot elements 
of destruction.” Noiv it presented a picture 
of quiet—an army at rest. The Putomao 
rolled between ns and the retreating foe, 
noting as an effectual barrier to night attacks 
or surprises. 
There was a feeling of security, such as wo 
had not before experienced,’and those lovely 
October days had brought happiness to the 
well and hope and cheer to the invalids. It 
is not surprising, therefore, that wo were 
loth to obey the peremptory orders to pull 
up stakes and prepare to move, and saw 
with Feelings of regret our hopes of winter 
quarters vanish. 
Knights of the quill always represented 
our soldiers as eager for a fight, hut I ques¬ 
tion whether others encountered any such 
chafing propensity for “blood letting.” 
While our boys were always ready to do 
their duty, they did not prefer, by any 
means, to march and fight, if the same re¬ 
sults could be achieved by remaining in 
camp. 
It was very apparent that after having 
harvested the rich cereals of the Shenan¬ 
doah, and thoroughly destroying the Balti¬ 
more and Ohio Railroad, Gen. Lee had de¬ 
cided to drop back toward Richmond in 
| order to spend the winter nearer liis base. 
Gen. McClellan gave chase, the bulk of 
the army crossing the Potomac at Ber¬ 
lin, a few miles below Harper’s Ferry, and 
making forced marches. For days the op¬ 
posing troops marched almost side by side, 
being divided only by the Blue Ridge; but 
the coaledeiates continued to keep possess¬ 
ion of the gaps and to successfully resist all 
our efforts to dislodge them until their 
inlantry had passed by. Our route lay 
through a most fertile uud productive region 
which had not been ravaged by oil her army, 
and the boys, with Stuart’s raid fresh in 
mind, forayed on an unparalleled scale. 
Unmiudftd of Oen. McClellan’s order 
against “jay-hawking,” they scoured over 
the adjoiuing farms, uud from every direc¬ 
tion were heard through the stillness of the 
night, the piercing wail of expiring pork, 
the plaintive lowing of stricken bovine or 
suppressed cry of unfortunate gulliimce®. 
Arriving at While Plains, the army found 
that the wily foe had slipped from our grasp. 
Gen. McClellan was relieved, and soon 
after, Nov, 7th, turned over IDs command to 
Gen. Burnside at the little lmmlct of Rec- 
tortown. The various corps pushed on to 
