OCR Text |
Show THE INDIAN SUMMER WHEN IT COMES AND WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE RE-SPONSIBLE FOR IT. Scientists and ftyher Investigators Differ In Their Yie&a Upon the Subject How the Season Was Given Its Name Is the Hase Caused by Smoke? There is a great difference of opinion emong those who are vrise in weatifer lore as to the exact tijne when Indian summer makes its appearance, some weather prophets declaring that it includes in-cludes every warm day between Michaelmas Mi-chaelmas day, the 29th of September, and Christmas, while others locate it in the month of October. Indeed, the opinions of scientists do not agree any better than those of ordinary individuals, individu-als, but seem to be as hazy as the season itself. After looking up much scientific data on the subject, and making a consensus of popular opinion, the fact seems established that this phenomenon of seasons really belongs to the month of November, although the signal service notes say that if Indian summer does not come in October or November it ' will come in winter, as if it were a sort of movable season. Neither do scientists agree as to the cause of that hazy atmosphere at-mosphere which accompanies the season, a condition peculiar to North America. It was attributed by early settlers in this country to the smoke from prairie fires kindled by the Indians henoe the name, "Indian " summer. " But it is now said by scientific investigators that the appearance of smoke is an optical illusion produced by a peculiar condition condi-tion of the air, which might be compared compar-ed to a dry fog. Sentimentalists declare that it is this dreamy haze which gives its great charm to this short, delightful season, hen the whole world of nature na-ture ap-1 ws like a beautiful dream. It is the uith season, the mellow ripeness of autumn, when creation stands still in a lazy, ianguorous mood, and the picture pic-ture is v ashing and indistinct like one of Co .- Vs landscapes. It is the golden gold-en sunset i "he year, brief and evanes-oent evanes-oent Like mirage, the Indian 6ummer n does no' . .: ' t ; bo investigated. It is hero i' 1- c ,jr before the would be investigator Wa. ware of its presence. It is suoL re:-.:lri, happy period that people are c Vnr to enjoy it without asking q- vet there is much in its phenoi-'rite t". - c is worth the most careful sciea .li; investigation. It has been suggested that the dreamy haze which accompanies the season is composed com-posed of animal life of such a minute form as to be iucapable of microscopio examination, but of such innumerable quantities that they obscure the atmosphere atmos-phere ar.d redden the sun. It is also charged to vegetable matter, but these are mero theories which have not yet been proved. Another token by which this genial Indian rammer makes itself known is the absolute silence of nature herself, as if she were taking a vacation from winds that blow and clouds that 6had& There is such a stillness in the air from sunrise to sunset that sound itself seems to have gone asleep. But there is no loneliness in the silence. It is only as if everything were resting, bathed in the happy sunshine. The flowers are gone; the singing birds have flown to their southern climes; the leaves have dropped drop-ped from the trees when the Indian summer oomes trailing her white veil to cover the desolation and filling all hearts with the tranquillity of her gracious presence. There is a tonic in the air she brings which chemists cannot bottle nor charge commercial rates for whiffs of summers that have been contracted into a few days and gone before we can analyze an-alyze them to say, "This is balsam, or that is balm." It is a draft for the gods. The subject of Indian summer was investigated as long ago as 1835, when Dr. Lyman Foot of the United States army in his report says that the Indians gave the season its name by calling it their "fall summer, " which occurred ; in November. The doctor was stationed "at Fort Winnebago, Missouri territory, j at the time and wrote from observation. He says: "We arrived at this post the 8d day ' of last November. We had thre weeks I of Indian summer, with all the peculiar J redness of the sky in great perfection." He adds that he had long observed the i season with curious attention and calls for an expression of opinion on the sub- ject from other observers. Professor Willet advanced the theory I in a report maoVfco the government in 1867 that the dry fog is real smoke, not produoed by prairie fires, but the prod- I not of chimneys. The late Professor i Henry of the Smithsonian institution reported that a portion of the haze, fil- t tered, was found to contain the lava of j, volcanoes and fragments of burned veg- l etables. Neither of these distinguished j scientists added anything to the litera- ture of our Indian summer, 60 when t doctors disagree it is not expected that ordinary observers will be able to for- f rnulate any tenable theory of its cause. 1 The next best thing is to enjoy its op portunities, leaving its origin to the tm-I tm-I known source whence it is derived. New England is especially favored by this after summer gueEt In that land i of rocks and rills the stillness of the oc- casion is more delicious, the haze more poetic and the winds more languorous j in their passive acquiescence in this meditative mood of nature. Emerson : must have written of this period: 'Twae one of the charmed days ; , When the genius of God doth flow. The wind may alter twenty ways, A tempest cannot blow. It may blow north, it still Is warm, i Or south. It still Is clear, ' Or east, it smells like a clover farm, J Or west, no thunder fear. 1i The caprice of the season is to wait I tin til winter is almost upon us, then to drop unexpectedly like a benediction I with sunshine and warmth and a rest- fulness that soothes and comforts her fractious children and whisper to them I tweet promises of heavenly deatk. Detroit Frea Press. |