| Show wr aw binin e r 11 01 A r aks HEATER F a ate P c e OF NS HEREL HERE L C bouta A AW I 1 fourth FO arid AN AM J ARROW OVY HEAD RIGHT BY our UR MYSELF LL 11 SET TH THEU A AW 11 ll ALL ROMO arcima US AT ra ama 0 POP baid MOW 5 T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON goes another of our illusions I 1 it Is in regard to that pleasant period in autumn known as indian summer arid and as usual it Is science which has disillusioned us no less an authority nuth orlay than the united states weather bureau basing its statement upon accurate meteorological observations has this to say ab about out that delectable season famed for its genial sunshine and alluring haze indian summer Is the name applied in this country to a period of mild fall weather following a spell of unseasonable cold weather known as aa squaw winter such as occurred this fall it Is not a fixed seon season in the calendar in many years it la is intermittent that Is there may be ba several indian summers in one autumn thoreau in notes on weather conditions at concord mass from 1851 to iago records the occurrence of indian summers on dates ranging from september 27 to december 13 in europe as aa well as in this country it Is popularly believed that a re newal of mild weather occurs every autumn and the dates ot of its supposed occurrence are snore more definitely fixed than Is the case in america the period la is associated with the names ot of various saints the mild period thus Is known in different parts parta of 0 europe as st martins summer st lukos lukes summer or st Mic michaels haers summer and tradition fosters the idea that it i t Is always mild and warm about the tha time of these theme various saints days climatological facts however do not always square with this belief indian summer has always been it a favorite theme of artists and poets especially the latter who however have usually been better verse makers than meteorologists ts when was the red mans summer aska lydia II sigourney Sl gourney the felicia hemans of america and one of the early nineteenth century poets then without trying to fix the date in one of her poems she says it came when tho the groves grove in fleeting colors wrote their their own decay when with heart foreboding or depressed the tha white man marked the signs ol of coming winter then began tho the indians joyous season john 0 0 brainerd a contemporary of mrs sigourney Sl gourney la Is more specific in placing the season at the time when the frost turns into beauty all octobers charms longfellow fixes the season about the first of november in a passage in his evangeline Evangel lne as follows then fol followed loed that beautiful season called by the pious acadian peasants pea santy the summer bummer of all saints filled was the air with a dreamy and magi magical c al light and the th landscape lay tsa ex it new created in all the freshness of childhood since election day comes in november the following quotation from whittlers whistlers Whitt lers the eve of Elect election loY also places indian summer in that month fron gold to gray our mild id sweet day of indian summer ier fades too soon but tenderly above the sea hangs white and calm the hunters moon in its pale fire the village spire shows like the godla zodiacs a spectral lance the painted walls walla whereon it falls falla transfigured Trans figured stand in marble trance I 1 stephen henry thayer puts it a littie later in the month when he says that it la Is in the autumns dotage mid november when skies seductive seem to woo the earth other poets however are more concerned with what it la Is rather than when it Is end and have given us some charming descriptions sam walter foss in his inimitable dialect calls it a piece ot of sweetmeat in the following I 1 0 verse the good old schoolmarm school marm who pities our distress she gives her children every year a little glad recess an or ol gray eray headed boys and girls they feel their hearts thaw out an lif life flows on ns as mu sIcly cly as water from a spout ass an now the ingin summer time ath ith all its rest Is here A piece of sweet meat stuck between the slices of the year A sorter reign er jubilee 1 twixt snow abow an thunder showers A chunk of sweetness sandwiched in between the frost and flowers nor were the early american poets the only ones who paid their tribute as witness the following by marian isabel angus INDIAN SUMMER indian summer broods today over the mellow autumn lands soft wispy veils of amethyst and amber pale stream from her hands bands vines hang heavy with purple grapes I 1 apple trees bend with crimson gerns and in the woods the great oak trees are crowned with golden di adems bilco topazes the pumpkins lie he set in n a sing ling of brown and green and mock the sun while slender spears of goldenrod make gay cay the scene nature Is drowsy her work la Is done now she awaits her winter rest harvest la over 0 ver the tired brown earth ale will sleep e p with red leaves on her breast and minna irving paints this gayly colored word picture of INDIAN BLANKETS sumac fires are burning brightly ruby nuby red the embers glow alow indian council fires fl res rekindled from tha ash of long lone ago and the winds a runner pas passing 8 ing with hla his feet in deerskin shod hod and a chiefs tall feather tosses toasts in the dusty goldenrod wild grapes ripen la in the thicket purple asters edge the stream and the braves to forth earth returning by the moons enchanted beam hang their red and yellow blankets on the windy maple bough when the frosty night Is over fordha for ita indian summer now another famous dialect poet frank LL 11 stanton britini tini of indian summer lit in his na native ti ve state vz oi georgia declares that injun summer suits me soft night and stilly day and I 1 could keep on dreamily dreadin amin till I 1 dreamed my life away and cornelia it doherty calls it the season WHEN THE ACORNS DROP theres a whisper on tho the hilltop and ana a murmur in the wood theres adreain adre a dream aln of golden glory elory everywhere ery where on the beech a russet cover on the elm a mottled hood wh while 1 le the walnut lifts her branches brown rind end bare oh the crows hold their meeting in the old oaks calls top and bo fur indian summer when tin the acorn drop meadow theres a bloom 11 upon on the meadow like the ghoston ghost ot summer flowers but the tha forest and the valleys BM are aflame and on hillside an and in hollow throughout all the misty hours boure descend the rustling drops of autumn rain oh ob the squirrels at hla his feasting in the old 1 d oaks top and ho for or indian summer when the acorns drop when the chestnut and the hazelnut put on a richer brown and the blackbirds all are gathered in a flock when mallow mallo ln the in themar buttons u up P her yellow gowns then its time to heap the fodder in a shock ob autumns on her waning better gather in the croal and ho for indian summer cummer when the acorns but not all the beautiful tributes to indian summer have been in verse oliver wendell holmes olmes II writer of delightful prose as well as poetry in his essay on tho tha seasons says in october or early in november after the equinoctial storms comets the indian summer it is the time to be in the woods or on the seashore a sweet B eason that should be givon glam to lonely walks to stumbling about in old churchyards plucking on oil the tha way taj th aromatic silvery herb everlasting and smelling at it its s dry flower until it etherizes ethe the soul nto into I 1 aimless reveries rev erics outside of space and time there Is no need of trying to paint the tha still warm misty dreamy indian summer bummer in words there are many states that have no articulate vocabulary and are only to be reproduced by music and the mood this season produces is of that nature in The Guardian angel he h continues on that theme thus to those who know the indian summer of our northern statts statta stat ts it la Is needless to describe tho the influence it exerts on an the senses ard and the soul the stillness of the landscape in that beautiful time ir I 1 as aa it if the planet were sleeping Ble like R top before it begins to rock with the storms of autumn all n natures to find themselves more truly in its light love grows growa more i tender religion more spiritual memory sees farther back into the past grief revisits its mossy marbles alis poet harvests the ripe thoughts which he will tie in sheaves of verses by his bis winter fl fireside reside mid and in elsie elfie i venner he refers again to this season by declaring that the real forest ta Is hardly still except in indian summer suin mpr then there la Is death in the tbt house and they are waiting for the sharp shrunken eli months to come with white raiment for the summers burial |
