23

II.

Now had the season returned, when the nights grow colder and longer,

And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion

enters.

Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the ice-bound,

Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical

islands.

Harvests were gathered in; and wild with the winds of September

Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old

with the angel.

All the signs foretold a winter long and inclem

ent.

Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded their honey

Till the hives overflowed; and the Indian hunters

asserted

Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the foxes.

Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed that beautiful season,

Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of All-Saints !

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape

Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of

childhood.

Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the rest

less heart of the ocean

Was for a moment consoled.

in harmony blended.

All sounds were

Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in the farm-yards,

Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing

of pigeons,

All were subdued and low as the murmurs of

love, and the great sun

Looked with the eye of love through the golden vapors around him ;

While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and yellow,

Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree of the forest

Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles and jewels.

Now recommenced the reign of rest and affec

tion and stillness.

Day with its burden and heat had departed, and

twilight descending

Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the herds to the homestead.

Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks on each other,

And with their nostrils distended inhaling the freshness of evening.

Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful

heifer,

Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that waved from her collar,

Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of human

affection.

Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the sea-side,

Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them followed the watch-dog,

Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of his instinct,

Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and

superbly

Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the

stragglers;

Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept ;

their protector,

When from the forest at night, through the starry silence, the wolves howled.

Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from the marshes,

Laden with briny hay, that filled the air with its

odor.

Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes and their fetlocks,

While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and

ponderous saddles,

Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned with tassels of crimson,

Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks heavy with blossoms.

Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded their udders