50 June. 
rockets, poppies, pinks, lupines, mignionette, and 
hundreds of others. In the fields and country lanes, 
we are delighted with the sight and perfume of the 
field-peas and beans, the red and white clover, the 
young corn, bursting into ear, the delicate wild rose, 
with flowers of varying tints, the luscious honeysuckle, 
the snowy-flowered elder, the foxglove, the meadow¬ 
sweet, and the exquisite feathery grasses of the field, 
which rival the beauty of the plumes of the ostrich. 
It is supposed by some that June took its name from 
Juno, the wife of Jupiter, “king of gods and men.” 
Others say it is derived & junioribus , from young per¬ 
sons, who always claim this month as their own. The 
ancient Romans considered that June was the most 
propitious season of the year for contracting matrimo¬ 
nial engagements, and, particularly so, at the full of 
the moon, and that the month of May was especially 
to be avoided. 
The out-door labours in the field are specially pleas¬ 
ant now. The happy haymakers in the meadow appear 
as if their work was only pleasure. June is sometimes 
showery ; but sunshine quickly comes, and then we 
have, in all its splendour, the rainbow—“triumphal 
arch, which fill’st the sky when storms prepare to part.” 
But sunshine and showers alternating only enhance 
the beauty of the season, which may be considered one 
of the most enjoyable times of the year. 
